Gershwin piano concerto - fullscore and orch parts

[Starrmark]

There was a second, totally different orchestration of Gershwin's Concerto in F. I have an MP3 file of a 1928 radio broadcast of this work performed by pianist Roy Bargy and the Paul Whiteman band. The orchestral part was scored by Ferde Grofé to match the makeup and size of Whiteman's band. Thus, Bargy was the first pianist to record Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F.

Since I first heard this recording about a dozen years ago, I have felt that this orchestration is a revelation. It is lean and mean. It transforms the work from the lush symphonic score that we hear in the concert hall today into a twin of the original jazz band orchestration that Grofé made for the Rhapsody in Blue. In my estimation, this jazz band orchestration is much truer to the spirit of Gershwin's music than the Romantic symphonic score premiered by the NY Philharmonic.

Bargy, by the way, was a fabulous pianist. He was the pianist in the Whiteman Band, and before that he led the Benson Orchestra in Chicago. He was also a superb composer, primarily of pieces for the keyboard. His pre-1923 compositions, which include the piano classic Pianoflage, deserve to be posted to IMSLP. (As do those of his competition Zez Confrey.) However, Bargy died in 1972 -- so the Canadians still have 12 years to wait.

Where now is the score for this jazz band orchestration of the Piano Concerto in F? I don't think it was ever published as sheet music -- but it seems likely that the score and parts are still to be found among Paul Whiteman's papers archived at Williams College. It is doubtful that this orchestration is PD -- but not impossible. Maybe it was never copyrighted properly. I'll let the copyright experts thrash out that thorny question. Grofé died in 1972. But the orchestration may have been a work-for-hire. Who knows? Maybe the Whiteman estate would encourage its posting on IMSLP. If the score/parts still survive, they have been languishing in a dust-covered box since 1928.

MS

[Melodia]

The Grofe orchestration has been recorded at least twice, and I possibly three times. One of them was released on a double CD set along with the Whiteman orchestration of the Grand Canyon Suite and another Grofe piece called the Tabloid Suite. Check it out -- http://www.amazon.com/Tabloid-Suite-Pic ... 058&sr=1-2

[sbeckmesser]

There's a brand new recording of the Grofe orchestration of the concerto, played by Jean-Yves Thibaudet backed by Marin Alsop and the Baltimore SO. You can hear samples at:

http://www.amazon.com/Gershwin-Piano-Co ... 833&sr=8-2

The Grofe orchestration would definitely not be in PD, since Grofe died as recently as 1972. If only Gershwin had lived that long!

--Sixtus