Gershwin Orchestral scores?

[nmitchell076]

Why is it that none of the Gershwin solo piano / Orchestra pieces are available in score form?  (excluding the Rhapsody in Blue, which is obviously available in every form imaginable)  I found the Concerto in F in a mini score (and a bad one at that, its hard to read and it fell apart on me in literally 5 days, which should never happen with a $30 book),  But I can't find anything for the "I Got Rhythm" Variations or the Second Rhapsody outside of the Two Piano - Four Hands scores.

Anyone know where I can find any of these works in a full scored form?

Edit, one thing that particularly bugs me is the note in the front of my Concerto in F miniscore (which is published by Alfred, BTW) "Published in the following editions: Piano Solo, 2 Pianos - 4 Hands, Full Score and Parts, Extra Full Score, and Miniature Orchestral Score." Yet the alfred site only shows the 2P - 4H and mini scores, ugh.

[rienzi]

I doubt that there is enough demand for these two works for the publisher to make them available other than for hire.
The 2nd Rhapsody is usually heard in a re-scoring by an arranger called McBride. I played the work many years ago and it was this version that the publishers hired out to the orchestra. Michael Tilson Thomas has recorded the original version, I believe, but whether the parts and score were ever printed or if he worked from the composer's or a copyist's manuscript is not known to me.

[nmitchell076]

Thats a shame, the second rhapsody isn't particularly high on my list of favorite compositions, but the "I Got Rhythm" Variations certainly is, and thats a work that's so rarely heard.

[rienzi]

The variations are probably a victim of what I regard as the exceptionally unimaginative programme-building that most orchestras (and recitalists) get by on these days. Even once-popular, short concerto movements like the Litolff Scherzo and Saint-Saëns' Havanaise rarely appear in concert halls now.
Having said that I do find that, for all its qualities, the Gershwin Variations doesn't seem to add up to much as a whole. I enjoy such things as the "Oriental " variation and what I think of as the "wailing strings" variation but I get a sense that the piece is over too soon without having reached any sort of real climax or having developed in other than a decorative way.
Still, it's a matter of taste, and I've long had a soft spot for the 2nd Rhapsody. And, yes, considering the popularity of the composer it's amazing that scores of his work can be so hard to come by. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen an orchestral score of the splendid Cuban Overture on sale anywhere!