|
|
Post by BunnyWhit on Feb 12, 2024 21:17:21 GMT
One hundred years ago today, 12 February 1924, Honduras was embroiled in a civil war, Britain's first Labour government was in office, Adolph Hitler was on trial for treason, the final fallout from the Teapot Dome Scandal was yet to be determined, prohibition agents were doing their best to enforce the Volstead Act, and George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" premiered at Aeolian Hall in New York City. Then, as now, there was a great deal going on that would influence and shape the future. Thanks to Gershwin, we have a sometimes chaotic, often rapturous soundtrack for it all.
|
|
|
|
Post by I Love Melvin on Feb 13, 2024 14:31:07 GMT
I had this earmarked for a while for another thread as part of a potential posting about dancers dancing with their shadows, but that's only a small (and really irrelevant) part of this staging of "Rhapsody in Blue" from the Universal film King of Jazz (1930), and it obviously belongs here. It was done in the early 2-strip Technicolor process using red and green, so it was quite an accomplishment to get the blue effects they did. It's over-the-top production-wise but I think that highlights rather than detracts from the theme of rhapsody. The movie was in revue format and even included an early animated sequence in color. It was also Bing Crosby's first movie, as part of the three-member Rhythm Boys.
|
|
|
|
Post by galacticgirrrl on Feb 18, 2024 19:13:23 GMT
Self Portrait by George Gershwin (1936)
 “He believes that if his public-school teacher hadn’t laughed when he showed her a drawing he had made, he would have been a very successful artist today.” - New York World (May 4th 1930)
Before Gershwin’s death in July 1937, he was planning a one-man show of his art. Several months after he died the exhibition opened at the Marie Harriman Gallery at 61 East 57th Street. The show ran from December 18, 1937, to January 4, 1938, and according to the gallery brochure featured 39 paintings, drawings, and watercolors.
“Music is design—melody is line; harmony is color…. Dissonance in music is like distortion in a painting” - George Gershwin (Arts & Decoration, 1934).
Oscar Levant Rapsodia azul,R Alda,Biog G Gershwin,1945
|
|
|
|
Post by BunnyWhit on Feb 18, 2024 22:01:53 GMT
Béla Fleck's January 2024 release of "Rhapsody in Blue(grass)" is extraordinary.
The timing was superb as well, as the release was one day before Earl Scrugg's 100th birthday, and just a month before the 100th anniversary of Rhapsody's premiere.
I read (or heard? can't remember) something which said Gershwin wrote Rhapsody in only five weeks, and that it was incomplete the night it premiered. The opening clarinet glissando was a joke, he said, as he'd not been able to land on a good way into the piece.
It landed, Brother.
|
|
|
|
Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 6, 2024 14:38:44 GMT
Leaving aside personal opinions about Woody Allen, I have to say he made spectacular use of Rhapsody in Blue for the opening sequence of Manhattan (1979). The music seems (to me) to naturally evoke New York City and playing it against stunning shots of the city seems like a natural fit.
|
|
|
|
Post by BunnyWhit on Mar 6, 2024 14:59:19 GMT
Leaving aside personal opinions about Woody Allen, I have to say he made spectacular use of Rhapsody in Blue for the opening sequence of Manhattan (1979). The music seems (to me) to naturally evoke New York City and playing it against stunning shots of the city seems like a natural fit.
I know lots of people have feelings about Woody Allen, some highly supportive and others totally disdainful, but objectively speaking, the man had some wicked talent in his prime. He wrote one of my favorite "light" comedic short stories, "The Whore of Mensa." It appeared in The New Yorker in December of 1974. If you've never read it, or if you want to read it again, you can do so here. |
|
|
|
Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 6, 2024 15:10:36 GMT
I'm with you, I Love Melvin. I think it's one of the finest film openings ever.
I know lots of people have feelings about Woody Allen, some highly supportive and others totally disdainful, but objectively speaking, the man had some wicked talent in his prime. He wrote one of my favorite "light" comedic short stories, "The Whore of Mensa." It appeared in The New Yorker in December of 1974. If you've never read it, or if you want to read it again, you can do so here. And I'm with you. I think I still have a right and a left brain, so I can keep Woody compartmentalized enough to still appreciate what I've always liked about him. I'll get to the story, but I adore the title already. |
|
|
|
Post by I Love Melvin on Mar 8, 2024 13:29:16 GMT
It seemed like a real missed opportunity in the way Rhapsody in Blue was used in The Great Gatsby (2013). It's the perfect thing to underscore fireworks, but it was mixed way down under some dialogue and had to compete with all the glaring CGI effects. What should have been a stunning sequence was overwhelmed by Baz Luhrman's signature visual style run amok, in my opinion. Luhrman's "thing" is supposedly honoring popular music but instead of being awestruck I just kept thinking how phony and messy it all looked.
|
|
|
|
Post by BunnyWhit on Mar 8, 2024 18:18:33 GMT
It seemed like a real missed opportunity in the way Rhapsody in Blue was used in The Great Gatsby (2013). It's the perfect thing to underscore fireworks, but it was mixed way down under some dialogue and had to compete with all the glaring CGI effects. What should have been a stunning sequence was overwhelmed by Baz Luhrman's signature visual style run amok, in my opinion. Luhrman's "thing" is supposedly honoring popular music but instead of being awestruck I just kept thinking how phony and messy it all looked.
I still can't decided if I even like Luhrman or not. Some of it, I'm sure, has to do with my mood and state of mind upon viewing. I mean, I get it, I know what he's doing, but sometimes the theatrics, pomp, color, shine, and sound reads to me as overly contrived, stilted, too bright, and just plain noisy. I watched the clip just now, and I don't know if it's the headache talking or what, but it didn't much impress me. Perhaps I'm not very evolved. |
|
