Joseph Polisi: Kind of (New York) Blue
November 14, 2011 1:30 PM
I think that “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin just naturally feels like New York. It’s essentially a piano concerto that Gershwin didn’t call a piano concerto. It has all the jazz idioms of the 1920s within an orchestral texture. The piece reflects the energy of the city in an engaging and beguiling way.
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George Gershwin wrote and premiered “Rhapsody in Blue” in New York in 1924.
Joseph W. Polisi has served as the president of The Juilliard School since 1984.
