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Post by John Manning on Feb 4, 2024 3:14:16 GMT -5
Peter Reum: “The last encounter I had with Brian before Landy's second treatment began was in late 1982. With the help of some British friends, I had found a specific recording of the Rhapsody in Blue which Brian had asked a friend I knew to find. That friend, in turn asked me to get a tape of the Gershwin recording. I had written friends in several countries to help find that version of Gershwin's masterpiece. Several friends I knew in the UK obtained the recording, and sent it to me. “I sent the tape to a friend who gave Brian the tape. I kept a spare in case the first tape got misplaced. When I made that trip to California in December of 1982, I was fortunate to have a chance to see Brian, who thanked me for the tape, saying "Thanks for finding this tape, playing it has saved my life..." ” From: peternreum.blogspot.com/2016/01/freeing-brian-wilson-by-peter-reum.html
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Post by John Manning on Feb 4, 2024 3:33:43 GMT -5
Also this by Peter Reum, an extract from peternreum.blogspot.com/2013/03/light-lamp-by-peter-reum.html : establishes the point that this was NOT the version Brian heard as a child, but was (at the time this story took place) his favourite rendition: “David called me, asking me to find a little known rendition of Rhapsody in Blue, recorded by Stanley Black conducting the London Festival Orchestra. David explained that this was Brian's favorite version of the Rhapsody, and that he badly wanted a copy of it. He had apparently lost his cassette or lp of the Black recording. Being an accomplished Gershwin as well as Beach Boy collector, I set about trying to find a copy for Brian. It was not easy, but thanks to Roy Gudge and John Tobler, I was able to get a cassette recording of the Black version, off an lp Tobler owned. Roy was a trooper, looking around until he found the right version. Interestingly, the Stanley Black recording is copyrighted 1966, and is probably the one Brian was listening to when he cut Pet Sounds and Smile. “I dubbed a copy off for Brian and sent it to him through David Leaf. David gave it to Brian, and told him there would always be a copy for him if he misplaced it, because "Peter has a copy also." I still have a cd I maintain for this purpose. I was told by David that Brian loved that tape and played it often. I received a Christmas card from Brian I still have. I got out to California in December 1982, and discovered Brian had invited me over with David to thank me for the tape. Brian was living in Pacific Palisades at the time and was not in good health. He was living with a nurse named Carolyn, and David took me over to visit him. “I had heard through the grapevine that Brian was very ill, and not expected to live much longer. Nothing could prepare me for the time I spent with him. It was only a couple of hours, but it was a very interesting and emotional experience. Brian reintroduced himself, and I did likewise, referring back to our Gershwin conversation backstage the previous year. Brian immediately remembered it, and proceeded to ask me about myself. He asked me whether I had a family, what I liked to eat, what music I liked, and so forth. The conversation was friendly, and he sat down at the upright piano and played some boogie woogie piano and then went into Rhapsody in Blue, going on for about 10 minutes. “This was a spiritual experience I can never explain well verbally, but there is a part of the slow part of Rhapsody in Blue that obviously affects Brian the way it affects me, in that certain versions are so moving that they make my heart almost explode in my chest. He told me the same thing in passing at the piano, and I told him that Rhapsody in Blue is the most moving and spiritual American piece of music. Brian said "You know, I have heard this music and loved it since I was a small child." I explained to Brian that my mother used to play it on the piano for me as a child because I loved it more than almost anything else she played. Brian replied by saying "All of my life is in Rhapsody in Blue. It is the story of my life. Your finding and giving me this tape has meant so much this last year. Every time I have felt like ending my life or hurting myself, I have played this tape and it has saved my life." By this time I was floored and humbled. God works in mysterious ways. I told Brian that it was my privilege to help, and that I would do everything I could to assist. I had just finished graduate school, and I had no idea how that training would later help me work with people around Brian again in 1990-91. “Brian invited me back to his bedroom to listen to the tape. We talked for awhile before he pressed play. The conversation's details I will not discuss here, except to say that I asked Brian if he ever had wanted to do longer, more classical type compositions like Gershwin. He said, "Yeah, I had hoped to move in that direction." I told him I heard a Gershwin influence in his work, especially his mid 60s compositions. He said "I wanted to be known for more than writing pop songs." I told him I had heard some of the Smile music, and that I heard a strong Gershwin influence in it, especially in it being so emotional and in the way the horns and strings played. I asked him if Smile was going to be his "Rhapsody in Blue." Brian replied by saying, "Yeah, I wanted to do a long piece with 3 movements like the Rhapsody in Blue that would take up an album." I knew I was treading on sensitive stuff, and said "Hey, let's listen to the tape." Brian said "Yeah, then I gotta go." We listened to Rhapsody in Blue, and Brian shook my hand, and I repeated to him that if he ever needed any Gershwin, especially the Stanley Black, that I had a copy, and lots of other stuff too. Little did I know how much a shared Gershwin interest would bring me into Brian's orbit. I didn't see him again until 1986. I never disclosed this part of our conversation until Smile's premiere this year. I found it interesting that Smile's structure as performed in London matched the description he gave me back in 1982. I honestly did not know if that was accurate at the time or not.”
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Post by jk on Feb 4, 2024 5:48:08 GMT -5
Also this by Peter Reum, an extract from peternreum.blogspot.com/2013/03/light-lamp-by-peter-reum.html: establishes the point that this was NOT the version Brian heard as a child, but was (at the time this story took place) his favourite rendition: “David called me, asking me to find a little known rendition of Rhapsody in Blue, recorded by Stanley Black conducting the London Festival Orchestra. David explained that this was Brian's favorite version of the Rhapsody, and that he badly wanted a copy of it. He had apparently lost his cassette or lp of the Black recording. Being an accomplished Gershwin as well as Beach Boy collector, I set about trying to find a copy for Brian. It was not easy, but thanks to Roy Gudge and John Tobler, I was able to get a cassette recording of the Black version, off an lp Tobler owned. Roy was a trooper, looking around until he found the right version. Interestingly, the Stanley Black recording is copyrighted 1966, and is probably the one Brian was listening to when he cut Pet Sounds and Smile. Wow, thanks, JM. My goodness -- that must have been a wondrous couple of hours! Is it just me, or is the page you link no longer available? Oh, I see now what is it: that colon has been included in the url. It should read peternreum.blogspot.com/2013/03/light-lamp-by-peter-reum.html. Further on, Peter makes a fascinating comparison between Rhapsody and SMiLE...
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Post by John Manning on Feb 4, 2024 6:22:03 GMT -5
Thanks JK, have taken that colon out of the link.
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Post by E on Feb 4, 2024 8:12:14 GMT -5
Thanks, John. The mood I'm in this morning, I really appreciate reading that
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Post by filledeplage on Feb 4, 2024 9:34:23 GMT -5
Rhapsody in Blue_ An Icon of Jazz and Ameri....pdf (746.08 KB) thekeep.eiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=lib_awards_2019_docs Earlier, I stumbled on this paper, which enlarged Gershwin's background, most of which I was unaware, particularly how he died at 38 (breathtaking loss not unlike some of our young artists such as Dennis Wilson) how he infused jazz and other influences almost like a renegade into popular music, for stage and screen. Interesting glimpses into the role of the sound of a train (Pet Sounds closer?) on how it was considered a music form/rhythm for percussion, as well as what looks to me as a precursor (for lack of a better term) for Brian's writing of Smile in chunks. Or modular writing. It seems that he wrote Rhapsody in Blue in under a month. Leonard Bernstein's take on where Gershwin fit is interesting as is how I think his "Inside Pop" from 1966-67, is more important now than ever before. George didn't fit into a classical mold noted by Bernstein. And I really liked the citations in this paper as to how is has been used in popular culture, and film and TV such as in Glee, The Simpsons, an airline commercial (United) as well as a stand-alone as a score. Almost as individual tracks on an LP. Now, I can see George Gershwin's imprint on Brian for Smile and even for other precursor work. And why his family chose Brian to work on some "unfinished (music) business." But even with these references to Brian's grandmother "playing it for him" I get the sense that his grandmother was playing it for herself, and Brian just happened to be the lucky bystander, being babysat by a grandmother who loved jazz and musical theater. You'd physically have to watch a 78 rpm record like a hawk, to turn it over, because it finished playing so quickly. So the grandmother was supervising a young toddler and watching the record player. Multitasking. It still matters what young kids hear. If she wanted to influence Brian, by exposing him to George Gershwin, she succeeded. It makes me remember my godmother who bought me a (45 only) RCA Victor record player for my 3rd birthday (creating a monster of sorts.) Today Brian's grandmother would be called an "influencer." It seems that George died at 38 of a brain tumor, about 5 years before Brian was born, so in a sense, the country was mourning his loss of this American composer who influenced music and culture and so was the grandmother. It must have been on radio, as well, since it was pre-TV, which forced kids to have much better listening and focusing skills. Very interesting thread. www.classicism.com/composers/Gershwin/guides/story-behind-gershwins-rhapsody-blue/
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Post by jk on Feb 4, 2024 13:42:37 GMT -5
Am I glad I resurrected this thread! For the most regrettable reason, admittedly, but it's really taken flight this time round...
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Post by jk on Feb 12, 2024 13:08:29 GMT -5
Today it's exactly 100 years ago that Rhapsody had its very first public performance. To quote its wiki:
"Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered in a concert titled 'An Experiment in Modern Music' on February 12, 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York City. Whiteman's band performed the rhapsody with Gershwin playing the piano. Whiteman's arranger Ferde Grofé orchestrated the rhapsody several times including the 1924 original scoring, the 1926 pit orchestra scoring, and the 1942 symphonic scoring."
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Post by jk on Feb 16, 2024 18:10:45 GMT -5
If grandma had Paul Whiteman's RiB on Victor (there were various repressings in the 30's) it's possible that mom & dad had Glenn Miller's version, also on Victor, at home. His came out in '43. Miller's version is condensed for pop consumption. I'd bet that Brian heard both. Please come back again soon, sir. This forum needs you!
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