George Gershwin/Percy Grainger, "The Man I Love" solo arrangement

Full performance starts at 9:18
Link to 1927 Marion Harris recording: • 1928 HITS ARCHIVE: The...
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[@perry1559]

I saw an interview with a musicologist wherein he gave his well considered opinion that the three greatest melodists in western music were Mozart, Schubert, and Gershwin. I see no reason to disagree. Lennon and Mc Carney after them perhaps.

[@neilkilleen3911]

Very cool insights as always Cole and a lovely performance.
Regarding the GG song book, I worked my way through it as my first pandemic lock down project. I listened to lots of GG performances. I found that the little 2-pagers of the song book were usually to be found embedded in the middle of his longer extended rambles (in Grainger speak)
They drove me (more so my partner) a bit bonkers trying to make a tolerable recording of each. GG said they were for “the above average pianist”. If so, I was only just above the average !

[@grahamtwist]

A few weeks ago I was looking for a recording of this Gershwin classic and luckily for me, Cole, my Internet search took me to your performance of the Gershwin Etudes by Earl Wild. When I listened to you play Earl's arrangement of "The Man I Love", I thought I must be in heaven: it was just exquisite. And so you have transported me to those celestial heights once again with this solo arrangement by Percy Grainger. I'm glad I do not have to choose between them because I couldn't. Both Grainger and Wild in their arrangements elevate this 'show song' in terms of its technical demands and melodic and harmonic perfection onto a par - at least for me - with the greatest piano music of Chopin or Schubert or Debussy or any other acclaimed composer you care to mention. Your introductory talk outlining the background to the creation of this classic is very much appreciated, adding immensely to the overall pleasure afforded the listener, and I was particularly intrigued by the references to Grieg (and find myself in total agreement with your observations on those tenuous 'similarities' between the compared pieces. Maybe there are only so many ways to create beauty with notes?). Thank you so much for the treasure in this upload. If there is no 'real' heaven . . . this music will do just fine for eternity.

[@TheIndependentPianist]

Thank you Graham! You are too kind. Glad you found my old recordings of the Earl Wild etudes... That was actually a fairly informal recording session that I did, and I uploaded them more or less on a whim, not really expecting anyone would really listen to them! I'm very glad you derive so much enjoyment from them, they are really superlative arrangements aren't they?
And it is true that when you are working with 12 notes, usually arranged into 7 note scales, there is bound to be unintentional similarities from one composer to another. Still, according to none other than Schoenberg, there is still plenty of great music to be written in C major!

[@grahamtwist]

@@TheIndependentPianist As wonderful as the arrangements are . . . it is your playing of them that is blissfully superlative. Beyond imagined perfection.

[@dirkschneiderheinze]

Very interesting and well made video - thanks for creating. Also very nicely played.

[@nsk5282]

Another beautiful performance of a classic jazz standard (is there such a term?)! If one is looking for similarities with Grieg, I'd point to (with a stretch, more in the feeling and the mood)) Grieg's Piano Concerto 2nd movement, toward the end, starting at approximately 18:06 thru 18:22 in this link: th-cam.com/video/4AMJLiEYmZw/w-d-xo.html. I hear a big influence of African American Spirituals in Gershwin's music, there is even a debate whether he actually composed "Summertime" or used a very similar sounding spiritual "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child". But, the Klezmer style being an influence on Gershwin is an interesting one, and I can hear it, too. Cole, thank you very much for the upload!

[@TheIndependentPianist]

Very good points-and thank you for the link to the Grieg with Cziffra. I hadn't heard that performance before, but it sounds amazing!

[@licoricestic]

Simply beautiful Cole. FYI there's missing lyrics at 12:10 ("will be") coincidentally the part that I find most expressive in this song. Surely Sondheim was inspired by this song when he wrote "Losing my mind" from Follies also in Eb major; that haunting lilt in the melody that finds it's raison d'etre in the similarly C minor bridge section. I also do not detect Grieg; in fact ever since I read Gershwin was inspired by his Jewish roots, I can't help but hear Klezmer in his music especially rhapsody in blue. Lastly there are Gershwin songs like this that deserve to be in the same breath as the finest Lieder, Mélodie, and Art songs. Thanks for the Finnissy plug - never heard of him or his Gershwin arrangements and will surely give them a read.
th-cam.com/video/ERQTfcCANY0/w-d-xo.html

[@TheIndependentPianist]

Thanks for the comment Ceasar! And good catch with the lyrics...
Definitely take a look at the Finnissy arrangements. They are a little more of a tricky read, but there are definitely some beauties.

[@TheIndependentPianist]

And you are definitely spot on about Sondheim. He was a big (George) Gershwin fan. Not so much an Ira Gershwin fan, but we won't go into that ;-)

[@grahamtwist]

I'm in full agreement with you, Ceasar - Cole's playing is 'simply beautiful'. And thank you for the link to the Sondheim song. It is an exquisite recording and I'm totally wowed by Julia McKenzie's performance. Yes, I wonder if the song would have been written without the existence of "The Man I Love" . . . but we'll never know! And now I must discover more about 'Klezmer': my knowledge base is currently limited to 'Fiddler on the Roof' - but I shall be keen to see how it might have influenced 'Rhapsody in Blue'! For me, there can never be too much Gershwin. Or too much of Dr Cole Anderson performing!

[@abnah4510]

What is the piece 6:51, so pretty

[@TheIndependentPianist]

That’s the 2nd movement from Grieg’s Violin Sonata no 3 in C minor. It’s a real beauty, one of Grieg’s best.