performed at Staunton Music Festival
August 12, 2018
Trinity Episcopal Church, Staunton
video courtesy of Stewart Searle and Bravi Films

Lori Piitz, piano
SMF Chamber Orchestra, conducted by James Wilson

NOTES
In a genre dominated by Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin (1898-1937) quietly created three signature works for piano and orchestra: Rhapsody in Blue, Piano Concerto in F, and Variations on “I Got Rhythm.” Regarding the Variations, its original music dates from just before 1930. “I Got Rhythm,” with lyrics by George’s brother Ira, started out as a slow song in the Gershwins’ 1928 musical Treasure Girl before making a splash in a revised, upbeat version for Girl Crazy (1930). Along with “Embraceable You” from the same musical, “I Got Rhythm” became one of the brothers’ signature songs. Twenty years later a tap-dancing Gene Kelly gave the song global appeal in the film An American in Paris. Notable features of the melody include a balance of rising and falling pentatonic (five-tone) scales, though only four of the five notes are used. The song is also notable for its consistently syncopated rhythm. One of the “rubs” here is that one really does have to have rhythm in order to effectively render the offbeat accents of the main theme, as well as its faster tagline, “Who could ask for anything more.”

In the version for piano and orchestra, completed in January 1934 for his own pending concert tour, Gershwin adds an orchestral introduction. Beginning with chromatic solo clarinet (a feature shared with his Rhapsody in Blue), we proceed to brass and strings spiced up with hints of the “Who could ask…” motive. At its first entrance, the piano solo presents the theme without adornment or change. In the second variation, Gershwin shifts the theme to the orchestra while the piano freely percusses a chromatic counterpoint. The third variation slows the rhythm to a crawl, making it sound more like a ballad than a toe-tapping showpiece. Following a short cadenza, Gershwin inserts what he calls a “Chinese variation” in which colorful use of xylophone and pentatonic pitch sets are called upon to evoke an oriental sound. Later, the slap bass and jazzed-up rhythms usher in a new style redolent of the nightclub scene, a world Gershwin knew well. A more modernist, athletic variation allowing for an optional cadenza carries the work toward its conclusion. The original song continues to enjoy success, but these delightful piano variations allow it to reach even greater audiences as a sparkling, mini concerto.

© Jason Stell, 2018

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