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Classical 101

George Gershwin Reviewed by the Boston Evening in 1939

I've been having fun listening to Earl Wild's recording of George Gershwin's Concerto in F made forty years ago by the Boston Pops, which was conducted by Arthur Fiedler ("Ah-thah Feed-lah" as we called him up home). Reaching further back, here is Edward Downes' review of the Gershwin piece when performed by Sergei Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony back in 1939. Jesús María Sanromá was the soloist:

....(the concerto was) more interesting than significant. There are entertaining moments in the concerto that could have been written only by Gershwin, but they remain moments. And one came away with the renewed impression that Gershwin's greatest work was done in the glorious musical comedies. -- Boston Evening Transcript, November 18, 1939

Can't win 'em all, I guess.

Christopher Purdy is Classical 101's early morning host, 7-10 a.m. weekdays. He is host and producer of Front Row Center – Classical 101’s weekly celebration of Opera and more – as well as Music in Mid-Ohio, Concerts at Ohio State, and the Columbus Symphony broadcast series. He is the regular pre-concert speaker for Columbus Symphony performances in the Ohio Theater.