a little more Gershwin

Beautiful sounds as always. The first one seems just a touch too careful and 'classical', and the seconds one is IMO much too slow - it really drags and loses all its swing like this. But I'm no expert on Gershwin and could well be wrong on this. In any case, quality playing.

 

As for the sound I agree with Chris in that it is very good. I am not sure the fisrt one insperes me very much (it is not one of those arranged by Gershwin if I am not mistaken.) but that might be the arrangement itself. As for the second... I made a recording of it some time ago and ditched it because it was too slow, Listening to your playing, it sounded rather similar. The 1st section works even at that speed, but the middle one loses all its snap. The coda could fly a little more, The way I feel it is like a will'o'-the-wisp that soars and vanishes.

 

That is it: A is slow and B is livelier. When I play this one I think of Ella Fitzgerald singing it and that is just how she does it. My score says "Slow and in singing style." Funny that, since the publisher is obviously the same.

 

Hi Monica,

I enjoyed listening to these Gershwin pieces. In "They Can't Take That Away From Me", the introduction goes over a minute! And it seems to bear little relationship to the main theme. Was that actually composed by Gershwin or an arranger? If not, is the intro in the other score any more convincing? As you were playing this it, my sense was that your playing was tentative. But I suspect that's is actually due to the music in that intro, not you.

"The Man I Love" was played well, but I agree with the others that it could be at a slightly faster pace--not much. Very nostalgic and with a sense of longing.

Thanks for posting these.

David

 

Hey That's kind of neat. I like your arrangement or rearrangement. I know of one artist, Richard Glazier, who kind of does the same thing.

I actually spent quite a bit of time learning to make my own arrangements of these type of things. I even took lessons from a prominent bebop jazz pianist in my area. I know it takes a lot of work, and in some ways much harder then just playing from a written score.

I also thought the tempo could of been a bit faster and maybe more steady but that really is just my preference. I thought it sounded nice.

 

Hi Monica,

Exactly! In your rendition that occurs around 1.08. Back in those days many songs had long lead-ins and this was one of them. If I had to listen to just the lead-in by itself without the main theme, I don't think I could identify the song to be honest. That's probably why, without the benefit of the lyrics in the lead-in, I thought it might be a long piano introduction. I watched the link you gave me where Astaire sings to Rogers under the street lamp. Hadn't seen that for years! They used to do some fabulous dance routines in the movies, didn't they? I remember one episode where Astaire danced his way down an ornate staircase. It had to be very dangerous, but he did it smoothly as if there were nothing to it. I don't believe anyone else has ever been able to duplicate that maneuver.

Thanks for the memories!

David

 

Still slow but it seems to flow better now and it doesn't give the impression of dragging along.

 

This is better, yes, I agree, and the right speed.

Take it this way: Earl Wild plays Earl Wilde's arrangement while you play Gershwin's. Is that not better?

 

Charming performances, Monica. I didn't listen to the first take, but the tempo seemed fine to me here. Tempo can lie in the shadow of a musically convincing performance. In other words, it won't break your performance if you have something special to say. If that's how you hear AND sing it, then that's how a piece should go.

I had a dentist that worked for me and she secretly learned "The Man I Love" when her husband wasn't home. She learned the piece just in time to perform it as a surprise birthday gift for him...

If you were accompanying a singer, the original Gershwin version would be more appropriate. I am not opposed to transcriptions as long as it adds to the character of the music, and not create a distraction. I remember mentioning my partiality to Wild's transcriptions in another thread. I feel that they are more colorful from a pianistic point of view. His Etudes convincingly inject life without sounding like a pyrotechnical display. In the suite, I also like "Fascinating Rhythm." It's a good extension of the Preludes. Hey, you've already recorded the Preludes, so I think you underestimate your abilities to learn the Wild transcription Etudes. BTW, I liked your arrangement of "They Can't Take..." It was seamless and smooth. You should do more arranging?! :wink:

In any arrangement, these songs will always be a part of the American musical culture whether it's in movies or musical circles. Your performance was evocative and the music was conveyed with deep feeling.

George

 

Monica,
I just had a listen to this and I like it very much but have a question. You play the main portion of the melody "straight" but then there's that little bit afterwards (both times) that is in "swing;" why is that? I have no score, but it seems to me that you could do the whole melody in the "swing" style: da dah, da dah, da daaaah; instead of da, da, da, da etc. (if you catch my drift?). Regarding the ending, sounds great to me.

 

Hi Monica,

I went to YouTube to search for that Astaire sequence on the staircase, but could not find it there. Might have been in the movie "Blue Skies".

Yeah, the Nicolas Bros. were incredible! That dance especially was fantastic! It might have inspired Astaire to come with his own dance on the staircase.

David