BY SAMUEL COTTELL
From the opening clarinet glissando to the stunning piano cadenza, Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ is a work that has permeated popular culture in a way that no other classical music has. Originally composed for bandleader Paul Whiteman’s concert ‘Experiment in Modern Music’, which premiered at Aeolian Hall on on 12 February 1924, it is a composition that captures the spirit of America and the roaring jazz age of the 1920s. Gershwin composed the work in a mere two weeks after reading in a newspaper article that he was to compose a jazz concerto for the concert. It was his first foray into the world of ‘serious composition’ and began his reputation as a both a songwriter and a composer. Gershwin had introduced jazz music to the concert hall.
At only 25 years of age, and already an established composer of popular songs and Broadway tunes, Gershwin constructed a cultural melting pot of American musical life. His piece had syncopation, novelty piano style, and a brooding Romantic period sounding section. He was able to capture the sounds of every day life (and even the sound of a train) in ‘Rhapsody In Blue’.
In an exciting program, pianist Bernard Walz will perform this classic work with the Metropolitan Orchestra under the baton of artistic director and conductor Sarah Grace-Williams. No stranger to the work of Gershwin, Bernard first heard the work when he was a child. “I was nine or ten when I first heard it,” Bernard says. “It was on an ABC broadcast, and there was a freedom in the music that I had never heard in any of the music I had been exposed to up until then.”
‘Rhapsody In Blue’ was a turning point for Bernard. At the time, he was learning classical pieces (as many a good piano student does) and was enthralled with the freedom that he heard in ‘Rhapsody In Blue’. “There is a certain naivety in the music. It was unfettered, and Gershwin had not been schooled in the composition of such a large scale work. What he produced was just extraordinary,” Bernard says. He soon had a copy of the solo piano version and was thrilled to be able to play through the various themes of the work. “I was about 13 or 14 when I first got a copy of the full score. It was always fun trying to play the cadenza at the end and learn all of the sections of it.”
Bernard is a multi MO Award winning pianist who has performed all over the world at the piano and as a conductor. His debut album ‘Piano Passion’ knocked The Three Tenors off the charts and established his career as Australia’s premier ‘pops’ pianist. He has recorded several other albums including a CD of Gershwin’s solo piano works. His approach to these works is to capture the spirit and drive of Gershwin and they are perhaps some of the most accurate interpretations of this music.
Bernard first performed ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ as a guest soloist with the Hunter Orchestra under the direction of his friend and mentor, the late Maestro Tommy Tycho. Some years later Bernard recorded the work on his third studio album ‘Piano Passion, Too!’ with Tommy Tycho and the Sydney International Orchestra. “When we were recording this work, we were quite restricted for time, so with the full orchestra in the studio there was a certain energy captured in the take,” Bernard says. “It was just amazing and awesome to record the work with Tommy.” Tommy had also performed ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ at age 10 with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bernard has performed the work on tour with harmonica legend Larry Adler, who exclaimed: “If only Gershwin were alive to hear Bernard perform this work, he would have loved it!”. Bernard is arguably the ideal pianist to perform this work. He is able to play classical works, jazz works and everything in between. “You have to have an openness to this music. If you can tap into what [Gershwin] asks for, then what is required at the keyboard will become apparent. Gershwin requires the music to crackle, sparkle, and pop – and if you can achieve that, I think you have achieved the spirit of Gershwin,” Bernard says.
It also takes a special kind of orchestra to perform this work. Gershwin envisioned his ideal ensemble as a combination of a highly-trained symphonic orchestra and a rhythmically-responsive swing band. “The more sharply the music is played, the more effective it sounds, and not all orchestras are able to enter the jazz-influenced spirit demanded by the score.” Bernard is thrilled to perform with TMO and Sarah Grace-Williams. “Sarah Grace always brings freshness to the music, in whatever style of music the orchestra is performing and she is always very adventurous in what she is doing,” he says. “Her exploration of the score with the orchestra always brings out an energy of the particular piece being played, allowing the music to sing. As a soloist, it is a delight to work with Sarah Grace as her communication is also so open and collaborative.”
The piano part is a fiendishly difficult one. The pianist must capture an improvised feel in the music and not approach the music in a way that you would towards Chopin, for instance. As the work was not finished before the premiere, Gershwin improvised sections of the work at its premiere and wrote in the conductors score: ‘Wait for nod’.
“If you listen to Gershwin’s recordings of ‘Rhapsody In Blue’, he played it on the edge. He pushed the music and let it fly out,” Bernard says. “Of course you first have to get the notes under your fingers, but, for this music, you really have to practice letting it fly. The approach to articulating line and phrase in ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ is so different to that required for the usual classical repertoire,” he suggests, as he demonstrates on the coffee table.
“In much of the repertoire, melody could be said to be primary over the rhythms that support it. But in ‘Rhapsody In Blue’, the music is largely driven by the rhythmical elements and this influences the way the melodies are delivered.”
What is it about this work that has appeal to audiences 91 years later? “I think because it was such an honest piece of music, it speaks so much of its time. It has a universal message of life and joy. This is the wonder of why it works so well with audiences. Listening to this music invites you to celebrate life.”
Bernard Walz performs Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ with the TMO under the direction of Sarah Grace-Williams at Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Centre, Harris Street, Ultimo at 8pm on May 2, 2015. Bookings: www.metorchestra.com.au/tickets or phone: (02)8007-7131.
Image supplied.
