Gershwin, Second Prelude

[rachfan]

This is a very lyrical and bluesy piece, one of a set of three preludes.  (Nos. 1 and 3 are still on my "to do" list.)

Update: I deleted the CD cut (42 downloads) and replaced it with the original tape recording for better fidelity.

[cjp_piano]

Nice job, just curious . . . in the middle section, did you switch hands?  or did your LH play the melody?

Have you played the other preludes as well?  They are fun to do as a set   

Thanks for sharing

[rachfan]

Hi CJP,

Actually, I played the middle section with the left hand.  I'd be the first to admit that I'm not completely above tricks.  But I try, for example, to redistribute music between the hands only as a last resort.  And when I do it, I make sure that the dynamic produced by the substituting hand is absolutely and exactly the same as the other hand, so that the listener will be unable to tell the difference.  Or if I'm doing a difficult arpeggiated figure with the right hand, I won't let the left hand cross over the right to take the top note--unless even with the most sensible right hand fingering, that crossover will still be the best way to go.  Also, I never "simplify" a difficult place in a score, but instead keep practicing it until I can execute it well.  In the Gershwin prelude, yes, I did groan a little when I saw that left hand melody coming at me, but looked at it as an opporutunity.  Where the left hand is normally assigned to accompaniment, at a dynamic level below the right hand, 95% of the time, it's always good to further develop the left hand when it's given a cue to do so.  Just my opinion.

I haven't done the other two preludes in the set, but they are on my "to do" list though.

Thanks for your compliment and questions!



 

[cjp_piano]

Yeah, I play it with the LH also, but it's good for the brain to learn it both ways! 

Good luck on the other preludes, I'd love to hear them.  I would share my performances of pieces but, unfortunately, I don't have an adequate way of recording   

[rachfan]

Hi CJP,

I know what you mean on recordings.  I had made quite a few with poor equipment before getting some decent recording gear.  The sonics on those is not very good, so I'd be hesitant to post some of them here.

[rachfan]

George Gershwin premiered his Three Preludes for piano in 1926 at the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC in a joint concert with the singer Maria Alvarez.  Here is the Second.  (I still haven't gotten around to Nos. 1 and 3 yet--just too much repertoire on my "to-do" list at the moment.)   

Comments welcome.

[slobone]

The sheet music I have puts the middle section melody in the left hand and says Optional Version: Reverse Hands. But why would anybody do that? Just to show off?

And do try the other two, they're a lot of fun. The first one isn't too hard, the third one gets a little tricky, especially at the end, and especially if you try to play it really fast.

Incidentally, Gershwin's metronome marking in the second one is pretty zippy (quarter note = 88), but I've NEVER heard it played that fast, not even by André Watts.

[rachfan]

Hi slobone,

On editions, New World Music (actually in Paris, France) holds the original copyright on the score for the Preludes, which is dated 1927, the year after Gershwin premiered the pieces.  (The American distributor is Warner Bros.).  The New World Music reprint I have is dated 1985--a nice durable one with glossy covers, I should add.  That note on the option to switch hands for the middle section that you mention doesn't appear.  I looked in three repertoire guides to see if maybe NWM had licensed out the preludes to another publisher, but it appears that NWM has retained a complete lock on it.   What edition do you have there?  If it's NWM, my guess would be that while the option might have been included by an editor in printings at some point, maybe additional research into the original manuscript showed no such intention on Gershwin's part--thus NWM decided to delete that note as being unjustifiable.  I agree with you though, playing that section with crossed arms, other than for doing it as a stunt, (in his day Liberace would have done it  ), would add no real value to the performance.

Yeah, I looked at that marking of a quarter = 88, but ignored it.  The piece is so quiet and lyrical, that it would seem that playing it at that tempo would totally destroy the mood!  Back in Gershwin's era they didn't have CDs, of course, not even vinyl LPs.  The state of the art was 78 rpm records.  In those days it used to drive artists crazy making recordings, trying to fit music on a side of a 78 record without interrupting it to continue it on Side 2, if at all possible.  All kinds of compromises had to be used--speeding up tempos, deleting repeats, removing measures from the score, coming up with abridged versions, etc.  It might be that Gershwin recorded his preludes (I don't really know), and maybe had to play No. 2 like Chopin's Minute Waltz to get it on a side, then for consistency applied that metronome marking on the score.  Just a guess.  But I think playing it like that would ruin the piece.  Like you, I've never heard it played at breakneck speed either.

I'll definitely get to the other two at some point.  Right now I'm working on Sergei Bortkiewicz.  What a composer!

[dmc]

Hey Rach -

Nice job !  I was trying to polish up the rough spots on this myself until Carpal Tunnel shut me down.  The other two are on my wish list as well.  All of Gershwin's Preludes are pretty good.  I recently attended a Keyboard Conversation program put on by Jeffrey Siegel - the theme was American Composers (if you're not familiar with him go to https://www.keyboardconversations.com/.  He played a few Gershwin Preludes as part of his program and he's recorded this 2nd one too (its in my iPod - one of my favorites).  You can find it on iTunes if you're interested.

Well done !

Almost forgot - What did you use to record yourself anyway ?

[rachfan]

Hi dmc,

I'm glad you liked my version of the Second Prelude.  Thanks for the compliments!  I do have the other two preludes on my to-do list.  At the moment though I doing some of Bortkiewicz's repertoire.  (I posted one of his preludes right here on this forum if you're interested.)

I too love Gershwin's Second Prelude.  Only he could have written a piece like that.  In fact, I like just about everything he ever wrote.  The Concerto in F is tops for me, followed by Rhapsody in Blue.  He also wrote a fabulous Second Rhapsody for piano and orchestra, but it has always been eclipsed by the Rhapsody in Blue, so surprising few pianists know of it.  In my music library I even have his American in Paris transcribed for piano.  It's tragic that Gershwin died so young.  Its impossible to imagine the other great piano pieces he might well have written.

On recording myself:  I use a receiver with a tape deck, Type IV metal bias tape (no longer manufactured), three electric condenser mics--two cartioid mics close up to the piano and an omni-directional behind them in the room for ambiance.  The mics use both a power supply plus their own batteries.  They all feed into a mixing box which then leads through the receiver into the tape deck.  So my recordings are actually analog that are then uploaded through software that converts the tape recording  (through RCA cables into the PC)  to digital mp3 files.  These are what would be regarded as ADD rather than DDD recordings.  To produce DDD recordings you'd have to record on minidisks or directly to the PC hard drive.  There are reasons why I prefer the method I continue to use.     

[goldentone]

I really enjoyed your rendition of the Second Prelude, rachfan. 
Very polished.  Your playing as a whole is very satisfying to listen to.

Last week I bought the Three Preludes and have been at work on the Second, which I am enjoying learning.  I have a tape of Leonard Bernstein performing the Second Prelude on a program that Michael Tilson Thomas hosted called Celebrating Gershwin from back in 1990, I believe.  It wasn't very long before Bernstein's death.  It is a very good program, 3-4 hours long and has Rhapsody, Concerto in F, Second Rhapsody, among others.

I worked a bit on the First Prelude.  I look forward to hearing that one from you.

[rachfan]

Hi goldentone,

Thanks a lot for listening and commenting on my playing of the Second Prelude.  I enjoyed learning it too.  It's a wonderful piece.  Hopefully I can get to the other two preludes sometime.  Right now I'm doing some of the Bortkiewicz pieces which are also fascinating.  So vast a piano repertoire out there, and so limited the opportunity during a lifetime to explore much of it!

The Gershwin recording I have is by Norman Krieger who does a nice job with this music.

[kghayesh]

You played it nicely and captured the improvisatory vagueness style it should be played with. However, I only had one comment. I think you played it slower than it should be, I felt you were applying the rubato written on the score, but when you are playing it at that slow tempo, making a rubato made me feel you almost stopped. The tempo marking is not adagio, it is andante, so you should play it a bit faster than that.

And for God's sake, get a piano tuner !! 

[rachfan]

Hi kghayesh,

Thanks for listening and commenting.  If I ever go back to that prelude, I'll probably pick up the tempo a bit.  At the time that it was recorded, I used to have the piano tuned annually, but have been doing it more frequently since the piano was partially rebuilt in 2007, since the new strings have not fully stretched yet.

[slobone]

Hi slobone,

On editions, New World Music (actually in Paris, France) holds the original copyright on the score for the Preludes, which is dated 1927, the year after Gershwin premiered the pieces.  (The American distributor is Warner Bros.).  The New World Music reprint I have is dated 1985--a nice durable one with glossy covers, I should add.  That note on the option to switch hands for the middle section that you mention doesn't appear.  I looked in three repertoire guides to see if maybe NWM had licensed out the preludes to another publisher, but it appears that NWM has retained a complete lock on it.   What edition do you have there?  If it's NWM, my guess would be that while the option might have been included by an editor in printings at some point, maybe additional research into the original manuscript showed no such intention on Gershwin's part--thus NWM decided to delete that note as being unjustifiable.  I agree with you though, playing that section with crossed arms, other than for doing it as a stunt, (in his day Liberace would have done it  ), would add no real value to the performance.

Yeah, I looked at that marking of a quarter = 88, but ignored it.  The piece is so quiet and lyrical, that it would seem that playing it at that tempo would totally destroy the mood!  Back in Gershwin's era they didn't have CDs, of course, not even vinyl LPs.  The state of the art was 78 rpm records.  In those days it used to drive artists crazy making recordings, trying to fit music on a side of a 78 record without interrupting it to continue it on Side 2, if at all possible.  All kinds of compromises had to be used--speeding up tempos, deleting repeats, removing measures from the score, coming up with abridged versions, etc.  It might be that Gershwin recorded his preludes (I don't really know), and maybe had to play No. 2 like Chopin's Minute Waltz to get it on a side, then for consistency applied that metronome marking on the score.  Just a guess.  But I think playing it like that would ruin the piece.  Like you, I've never heard it played at breakneck speed either.

I'll definitely get to the other two at some point.  Right now I'm working on Sergei Bortkiewicz.  What a composer!

Hi rachfan,

I overlooked this post until just now. The edition I have is NWM, I picked it up in the early 80's. The note about reversing hands is right over the first bar of the middle section, p. 7. Entirely possible it was put there by the publisher.

Incidentally, have you heard the André Watts recording? I like it a lot. And he does the complete Gershwin Songbook on the same record.

[rachfan]

Hi slobone,

I haven't heard Watts play this piece.  The CD I have here is Norman Krieger's who does a nice job too.  Just went and rechecked on that first bar of the middle section on page 7.  That direction to switch hands doesn't appear in my NWM edition; just says "largamente con moto and a tempo".  Strange!  I would bet that on your edition, you're probably right--the publisher's editor likely did it.  At least it wasn't the butler!