Lenny....

Here's a bit of serendipity- Bernstein playing (and conducting) Rhapsody in Blue. For the record I will state that I find the opening Clarinet performance here to be rather Ho Hum ( a technical music term)

ring in the new...

When I was a kid (about 12 or so), I read a book about George Gershwin. A biography geared towards junior high types- There was a  chapter devoted to Rhapsody in Blue, of course, talking about the first performance and how it was such a big step in both classical music  and jazz.

I feel terrible because I can't remember the title of the book or the authors name, but it's one of those things that made a huge impression on my feeble little brain. He/she/they  wrote so vividly about the piece, but in particular about the opening clarinet cadenza, that I ran to the library the next day to get a recording- which I then proceeded to listen to about 20 times in a row.

I thought of this the other night as I watched the Live from Lincoln Center News Years Eve Concert= they featured the music of Gershwin and Bernstein.  During one of the intermissions they played a short film about that opening cadenza. The 54 year old me and the 12 year old me sat there spellbound.

Hoping that sets a good tone for 2012