Composer of the Week: George Gershwin > Radio Documentary

Revision #2

Submitted on May 11, 2015 by musicalman1964TRADES

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Recording ID

29460

Title

Composer of the Week: George Gershwin

Source

Radio Documentary

Year

2006

Type

Noncommercial Audio

Subtype

Documentary

Notes

Gershwin started life in the music business as a song-plugger on Tin Pan Alley, becoming a fine pianist into the bargain. Donald Macleod begins by looking at the songs that established his reputation as a composer of popular songs and the work with which he crossed the threshold of the concert hall for the first time.

It was not long before George Gershwin and his brother Ira conquered Broadway, and George went on to win the hearts of the public - if not the critics - in the concert hall. Donald Macleod introduces the show that reinforced the brothers' reputation and the concerto with which Gershwin attempted to prove his worth as a serious composer.

Donald Macleod introduces Gershwin's evocation of the sights and sounds of Paris and the Broadway show that was saved from obscurity by the Wall Street Crash. Next he looks at the first all-Gershwin concert was staged in 1932 at the Lewisohn Baseball Stadium, playing to a huge crowd.

Finally, Donald Macleod introduces what was to be Gershwin's final concert work, his first and only opera, and some of the most memorable songs from the final years of his life.

This is the first time that [i]Composer of the Week[/i] has looked at Gershwin; this is a different programme from [r29461].

Recording group

BBC Radio 3

Recording language

English

Location

UK / England / London

Method

Studio

Completion score

13

Music

[p767 Gershwin, George]

Lyrics

[p979 Heyward, DuBose]
[p768 Gershwin, Ira]

Performer

[p110903 McLeod, Donald] = host