Program Notes: Xian Conducts Gershwin

GEORGE GERSHWIN 
Concerto in F 
BORN: September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York City 
DIED: July 11, 1937, in Beverly Hills, California 
COMPOSED: July–November, 1925 
PREMIERED: December 3, 1925, in Carnegie Hall, New York, by the New York Symphony, with conductor Walter Damrosch and Gershwin on piano. 

George Gershwin didn’t just straddle the worlds of popular and classical music; he flourished within them. Based in the New York City music scene, he developed a skill set that was topically alert and distinct yet malleable. This malleability was useful not only in musical theater and popular song, but also classical music. Despite his untimely death in 1937, Gershwin joined American contemporaries like William Grant Still (who also cut his teeth in musical theater), Aaron Copland, Florence Price and others in bringing classical, folk and popular idioms into innovative conversation. 

Although Gershwin wrote several works for piano and orchestra, the Concerto in F is his only composition that (semi) adhered to the concerto form in title and content. It was born out of his always growing creative interests and desire to show the true breadth of his skills to audiences and critics. “Many persons had thought that the Rhapsody was only a happy accident,” he wrote. “I went out to show them that there was plenty more where that came from. I made up my mind to compose a piece of ‘absolute’ music. The Rhapsody, as its title implied, was a blues impression. The Concerto would be unrelated to any program. And that is exactly how I wrote it. I learned a great deal from that experience. Particularly in the handling of the instruments in combination.” 

The Allegro is split into three sections. The first is built on a solemn melody first heard in the solo part. The cantabile section is rhapsodic and virtuosic, suddenly shifting to the dark and pokey scherzando section, leading up to the main theme’s return and a rousing conclusion. While the first movement leaned more into the modernisms of jazz and harmonies, the second movement Adagio—Andante con moto leans more into the blues roots of jazz, present in the brass slides and solos, heightened lyricism, gorgeous melodies, and use of call-and-response texture. The Allegro agitato is a quick and agitated third movement. It is also cyclical, as melodies from the previous movement appear in new contexts: the melody from the second movement makes a surprise re-appearance and the first movement’s main theme makes a majestic, bombastic return, leading to the concerto’s exuberant conclusion.  

A. Kori Hill © 2022, revised 2026  

GEORGE GERSHWIN 
Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture 
COMPOSED: Gershwin composed the opera in 1934 and 1935; Robert Russell Bennett arranged this Symphonic Picture in 1942. 
WORLD PREMIERE: A Symphonic Picture premiered March 1943 in Pittsburgh; Fritz Reiner conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. 

One of the great ironies of American music is that George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess was a failure when it was first performed at New York’s Alvin Theatre in October 1935. The critics panned it and the production was commercially unsuccessful. Today, Porgy and Bess is widely regarded as Gershwin’s masterpiece, and a half dozen of its songs have become part of the American canon. Indeed, “Summertime” is the quintessential American ballad. 

The opera occupied Gershwin for years, with the most intensive work occurring between February 1934 and September 1935. Porgy and Bess was the culmination of his consuming interest in the African-American experience. The story is based on Dubose Heyward’s 1925 novel Porgy about life among the locals in Charleston’s Catfish Row neighborhood. Gershwin called upon Heyward to collaborate with his brother (and longtime lyricist) Ira Gershwin in adapting the tale as a libretto. 

From the start, it was an ambitious and risky undertaking. The subject matter — focused not only on a disadvantaged subculture within American society but also addressing disability, drug addiction and drunken violence — was a far cry from traditional opera. (Gershwin attempted to dodge that pitfall by labeling it a “folk opera.”) Furthermore, Gershwin was a highly sought-after songwriter, but he had little experience writing through-composed music. Another issue was his lack of orchestration skill. Gershwin grew up playing Tin Pan Alley and did not have formal conservatory training. He often enlisted assistance when adapting his shows for Broadway. 

The year after the premiere, Gershwin compiled a symphonic suite based on Porgy’s music; however, the score fell into obscurity and was not rediscovered until 1958. At that point, Ira Gershwin retitled it Catfish Row Suite. 

Gershwin died in 1937. Five years later, in 1942, Fritz Reiner asked Robert Russell Bennett to compile a symphonic suite from Porgy and Bess. A composer, conductor and orchestrator, Bennett had been a friend of Gershwin’s and had assisted with the orchestration of some of his shows. The Symphonic Picture he crafted for Reiner and the Pittsburgh Symphony has since become the standard concert hall version of Gershwin’s score. 

Far more than a medley or pastiche, Bennett’s score captures the sultry atmosphere of Catfish Row in summer, with ample solos for non-conventional orchestral instruments like saxophones for added color. Not until more than six minutes into the Suite do we hear more familiar music from the Overture and the first big tune, “Summertime.” From there, Bennett moves seamlessly and skillfully through the opera’s other celebrated songs, also borrowing from the “Storm Music” and the “Picnic Party.” 

Bennett wrote a synopsis for the 1943 premiere of Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture in Pittsburgh. The sections below are played without pause. 

1. Scene in Catfish Row (with peddlers’ calls; Strawberry Woman; Crab Man) 

2. Opening Act III “Clara, Clara” (Requiem) 

3. Opening Act I (Introduction) 

4. Summertime 

5. I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ 

6. Storm Music (Hurricane) 

7. Bess, You Is My Woman Now 

8. The Picnic Party (Oh, I Can’t Sit Down) 

9. There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York 

10. It Ain’t Necessarily So 

Laurie Shulman © 2024 for New Jersey Symphony, reprinted in 2026 for the Seattle Symphony. Program subject to change.

GEORGE GERSHWIN 
An American in Paris  
COMPOSED: Spring 1928 
WORLD PREMIERE: December 13, 1928, at Carnegie Hall in New York City, with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Walter Damrosch 

If there is one city that loomed larger than life in the consciousness of early to mid-20th century America, it was Paris, a city of culture; of love; of magic; of possibility; of inspiration. Whether they were authors like James Baldwin looking for a place to write and live a little more freely, or performers like Josephine Baker, who took the Parisian dance and film scenes by storm, Paris was a place to hone one’s craft, and for several major American cultural figures of the time to make a career, and thus a home.   

Gershwin never made Paris his home. But he did visit it in 1926 and 1928; and the sights, sounds, smells and experiences inspired one of his best known and most performed works for orchestra (and saxophones, and celesta, and automobile horns): An American in Paris. It would go on to inspire (in theme, in soundtrack and in content) the 1951 film of the same name starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron while capturing the imaginations of many listeners — whether Paris was home, a former vacation spot or a place to visit one day. 

An American in Paris is melodically distinct and episodic. A tone poem of stunning evocation, it opens with a jaunty theme interspersed with car horns and tinkling percussion. The excitement and organized chaos of the busy street builds steadily until it reaches its apex and has only one place to go: down. Maybe the American has found a quiet alley, a section of the city that doesn’t attract too many tourists, represented by a solo oboe that leads the lyricism back to the excitement and verve of the city. This segues into what is arguably the most famous episode of the entire work: a romantic, sensuous melody growing in intensity and texture, moving from solo trumpet to a full orchestral texture. More episodes follow, adventurous, mischievous and eager to see more of what makes Paris so special. The final segment is a mad dash to the return of the work’s main theme and its emotional heart: the romantic theme of the middle section. And so the piece ends, an expression of one man’s wonderful, enchanting experience in a city that is part magic and myth and all creative inspiration. 

A. Kori Hill © 2022, revised 2026