Piano Concerto in F Major
George Gershwin (1898-1937)

THE STORY

     The premiere of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for solo piano and orchestra was a sensation. Among the many illustrious musicians in the audience was conductor Walter Damrosch, who immediately commissioned Gershwin for a new project—a more traditional piano concerto for his New York Symphony Orchestra (the ensemble that would soon merge with the Philharmonic Symphony Society to become the New York Philharmonic).
     Although he had a number of other projects on the burner already, Gershwin accepted. “Many persons had thought that the Rhapsody was only a happy accident,” he explained later. “I went out to show them that there was plenty more where that came from.”
     One rumor has it that Gershwin’s first order of business was to buy a book that would teach him exactly what a “concerto” was. The more likely version of this story is that he found books on orchestration, which he knew little about. And if that is true, then his efforts worked—unlike the Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin orchestrated the entire Piano Concerto in F Major on his own.
     While built in a traditional three-movement form, the concerto retained Gershwin’s heavy jazz influence, part of his musical DNA. He described his concerto as follows:
     “The first movement employs the Charleston rhythm. It is quick and pulsating, representing the young enthusiastic spirit of American life. It begins with a rhythmic motif given out by the kettle drums…. The principal theme is announced by the bassoon. Later, a second theme is introduced by the piano. The second movement has a poetic, nocturnal atmosphere which has come to be referred to as the American blues, but in a purer form than that in which they are usually treated. The final movement reverts to the style of the first. It is an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping to the same pace throughout.”
     Gershwin was soloist at the 1925 premiere and said that finally hearing his concerto come to life with the orchestra was his “greatest musical thrill.” His commissioner, maestro Damrosch, was equally pleased, sharing that Gershwin had “dressed his extremely independent and up-to-date young lady [jazz] in the classic garb of a concerto.”
     If audiences for Bernstein’s Candide had been uncertain whether the work was an opera or a musical, critics first hearing Gershwin’s concerto were unable to classify it as jazz or classical. Gershwin’s concerto—and his music at large—defies categorization, appearing regularly on both classical and pops programs. As Arnold Schoenberg stated, “He only feels he has something to say and he says it.”

LISTEN FOR

• Explosive blasts from the timpani at the opening of the Allegro

• A swanky trumpet solo introducing the theme of the second movement, accompanied by three clarinets (the same melody is later given to the flute) 

• The reintroduction of the first movement’s theme—but now at a much more vigorous tempo—in the Allegro agitato

INSTRUMENTATION

Solo piano; piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, strings