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Topic: LOVE Rhapsody in Blue (Read 5081 times) previous topic - next topic
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LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

In general I'm down on classical music. Bach/Beethoven puts me to sleep. Jazz, for that matter, does the same.

There's a playful energy in Rhapsody in Blue which I really appreciate. Where to go from here?

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #1 –
Quote from: adlai on
In general I'm down on classical music. Bach/Beethoven puts me to sleep. Jazz, for that matter, does the same.

There's a playful energy in Rhapsody in Blue which I really appreciate. Where to go from here?


Rhapsody in Blue is somewhere in-between classical (like Bach or Beethoven) and jazz. Looks like you have nowhere to go.
Ceterum censeo, there should be an "%is_stop_after_current%".

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #2 –
If you like Rhapsody in Blue, it's probably too sweeping to say all classical and jazz puts you to sleep. An astonishing recording that slots neatly between the two genres would be Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain, but if you're not ready to give it your full attention, I suspect it might really put you to sleep. Generally speaking it's pretty hard to find pieces like Rhapsody that don't tip over into jazz-fusion or easy listening. Have you tried any other of Gershwin's non-vocal stuff?

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #3 –
The obligatory answer is An American in Paris, which is sometimes packaged on the same album as Rhapsody in Blue.

You're not going to find much that is quite like Rhapsody, because it is regarded by many critics (including a few cool ones like Bernstein) as being thematically excellent but structurally weak. Most other composers of this time period tend to gravitate in the opposite direction (or are otherwise highly non-playful).

Tchaikovsky is probably your best bet, including the Nutcracker Suite and some of the symphonies and tone poems. I'd probably also suggest Rachmaninov's 3rd and 4th Piano Concertos, Bartok's 3rd piano concerto and most of his stage works (The Miraculous Mandarin in particular), the program music of Richard Strauss (Don Quixote, Thus Spoke Zarathustra etc), and most of Stravinsky's more popular stuff.

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #4 –
I second Stravinsky, especially "Le Sacre du Printemps" about a girl dancing herself to death in a pagan ritual. It requires a conductor and orchestra with enough balls to express both the dionysian brutality and the beauty of the piece. Many conductors somewhat shy away from the former. Simon rattle is a notable exception.

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #5 –
Yeah, Le Sacre du Printemps is pretty obligatory, but it would be a shame to limit yourself to just that. Off the top of my head, the Firebird and Petrushka suites, the Danses Concertantes etc are all solid and lively (although that's venturing perhaps a little too far into neoclassical territory).

If you can tolerate opera, particularly Russian opera, The Nose is a spectacle. Actually, almost everything Shostakovich did before 1937 was a spectacle.

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #6 –
Like Axon says, the elusive keyword is "playful". Stravinsky is more soberly classical, and as he himself noted, his approach to jazz (which he picked up in Europe, entirely from looking at music scores) was more formal and academic and not really swinging. Shostakovich is wonderfully playful but also tends towards the sardonic and grotesque.

For the OP: Speaking of Bernstein, I suppose the orchestral suites he made of his Broadway scores would be a natural choice.

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #7 –
Yeah, there's a pretty blurry line between playfulness and bitter sardonics. I'm tempted to suggest Weill except that he often falls well into the latter category.

Two more names which came to mind are Satie and Debussy, for at least some of their works.

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #8 –
The Penguin Cafe Orchestra are often referred to as modern classical, & they're certainly full of playful energy. I suggest them because I also find most classical music (beyond the odd quintet, quartet, or solo performance) of little interest, yet find the PCO very enjoyable.

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #9 –
thx for the replies so far alls. I guess...well, my knowledge of classical really is limited to what I've heard on TV commercials. So Penguin Cafe Orchestra was immediately recognizable

as was finally hearing the entirety of the American Airlines commercial

fun stuff...

LOVE Rhapsody in Blue

Reply #10 –
You might also try Dvorak's "From the New World" Symphony #9. It incorporates melodies from the old American West, which, if you have watched many westerns, will be very familiar. It was the album that started me in classical music and still one of my favorites!
Glass half full!