Born: 1898
Died: 1937
Country: USA
Period: 20th Century
In a career tragically cut short in mid-stride by a brain tumor, George Gershwin (1898-1937) proved himself to be not only one of the great songwriters of his extremely rich era, but also a gifted "serious" composer who bridged the worlds of classical and popular music. The latter is all the more striking, given that, of his contemporaries, Gershwin was the most influenced by such styles as jazz and blues.
Gershwin's firstRead more major hit, interpolated into the show Sinbad in 1919, was "Swanee," sung by Al Jolson. Gershwin wrote both complete scores and songs for such variety shoes as George White's Scandals (whose annual editions thus were able to introduce such songs as "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" and "Somebody Loves Me").
After 1924, Gershwin worked primarily with his brother Ira as his lyricist. The two scored a series of Broadway hits in the '20s and early '30s, starting with Lady Be Good (1924), which included the song "Fascinatin' Rhythm." 1924 was also the year Gershwin composed his first classical piece, "Rhapsody in Blue," and he would continue to work in the classical field until his death.
By the '30s, the Gershwins had turned to political topics and satire in response to the onset of the Depression, and their Of Thee I Sing became the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize. In the mid '30s, Gershwin ambitiously worked to meld his show music and classical leanings in the creation of the folk opera Porgy and Bess, with lyrics by Ira and Dubose Heyward. The Gershwins had moved to Hollywood and were engaged in several movie projects at the time of George Gershwin's death. Read less
Label: Sony
Catalog: 539520
Release Date: 08/18/2017
Number of Discs: 14
Composer:
Alexander Courage,
George Gershwin,
Nicholas Maw,
Jean Sibelius
...
Performer:
Joshua Bell,
John Williams,
Craig Ogden,
Gregory Knowles
...
Conductor:
John Williams,
Roger Norrington,
Esa-Pekka Salonen,
David Zinman
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Symphony Orchestra,
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Label: Nimbus
Catalog: 6346
Release Date: 08/04/2017
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Genaro Prieto,
Ariel Ramirez,
German Perez,
Antonio Estévez
...
Performer:
Edwin Arellano,
Clara Rodriguez,
Carlos Rodriguez,
Manuel A. Rangel
...
Label: Sony
Catalog: 511979
Release Date: 06/03/2016
Number of Discs: 12
Composer:
Franz Liszt,
Frédéric Chopin,
Franz Joseph Haydn,
Claude Debussy
...
Performer:
André Watts
Conductor:
Leonard Bernstein,
Thomas Schippers,
Erich Leinsdorf,
Seiji Ozawa
Label: Sony
Catalog: 88875170082
Release Date: 05/27/2016
Number of Discs: 7
Composer:
George Gershwin
Performer:
Garrick Ohlsson,
Audra McDonald,
Brian Stokes Mitchell,
Michael Tilson Thomas
...
Conductor:
Michael Tilson Thomas
Orchestra/Ensemble:
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra,
Columbia Jazz Band,
New York Philharmonic
...
Label: Warner Classics
Catalog: 552439
Release Date: 09/25/2015
Number of Discs: 77
Composer:
Niccolň Paganini,
Pablo de Sarasate,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Felix Mendelssohn
...
Performer:
Itzhak Perlman,
Pinchas Zukerman,
Ray Still,
Samuel Sanders
...
Conductor:
Lawrence Foster,
Daniel Barenboim,
Itzhak Perlman,
Bernard Haitink
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
English Chamber Orchestra,
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Recommendation
Label: Music & Arts
Catalog: 1282
Release Date: 05/12/2015
Number of Discs: 6
Composer:
Felix Mendelssohn,
Johannes Brahms,
Maria Theresia Paradis,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
...
Performer:
Camilla Wicks,
Robert Levin,
Horace Martinez,
Martin Katz
...
Conductor:
Fritz Busch,
Ari Rasilainen,
William Steinberg,
Leopold Stokowski
...
Label: Decca
Catalog: 002188302
Release Date: 10/27/2014
Number of Discs: 41
Composer:
John Philip Sousa,
Charles A. Zimmerman,
Francis S. Van Boskerck,
George Norton
...
Performer:
Stanley Black,
David Parkhouse,
Alan Loveday,
Robert Merrill
...
Conductor:
Rodney Bashford,
Stanley Black,
Bernard Herrmann,
Edward Downes
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Grenadier Guards Band,
London Festival Orchestra,
London Festival Recording Ensemble
...