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Donald Macleod charts George Gershwin's final years.

Donald Macleod charts George Gershwin's final years. In the summer of 1934, Gershwin settled in for a long stay in Charleston, South Carolina, renting a ramshackle beach cottage on Folly Island, a barrier island off the coast: no running water, no telephone and sand crabs everywhere. He shipped in an upright piano and delighted in his visits to local churches, where he joined in, enthusiastically, with some of the more exuberant moments of congregational participation. It was this period in which he finally formulated his magnum opus, the opera Porgy and Bess.

My Man's Gone Now
Jascha Heifetz, violin
Emanuel Bay, piano

I Got Plenty of Nothin'
Cleveland Orchestra & Chorus
Lorin Maazel, conductor

Bess, You Is My Woman Now
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Andre Previn, piano

It Aint Necessarily So
Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald

I Loves You Porgy
Keith Jarrett, piano

Catfish Row Suite
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Produced in Cardiff by Martin Williams

59 minutes

Last on

Fri 4 Jan 201912:00
BBC Radio 3

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In the Concert HallGeorge Gershwin (1898-1937)

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Music Played

  • George Gershwin

    My Man's Gone Now (Porgy and Bess)

    Performer: Jascha Heifetz. Performer: Emanuel Bay.
    • Deutsche Grammophon 00289 477 6269 G OM2.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 18.

  • George Gershwin

    I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' (Porgy and Bess)

    Choir: Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Lorin Maazel.
    • 4785785.
    • DECCA.
    • 20.

  • George Gershwin

    Bess, You Is My Woman Now (Porgy and Bess)

    Performer: Anne‐Sophie Mutter. Performer: André Previn.
    • Tango, Song and Dance.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 9.

  • George Gershwin

    It Ain't Necessarily So (Porgy and Bess)

    Singer: Louis Armstrong. Singer: Ella Fitzgerald.
    • Verve MG V-4011-2.
    • Verve.
    • 3.

  • George Gershwin

    I Loves You, Porgy (Porgy and Bess)

    Performer: Keith Jarrett.
    • The Melody at Night, With You.
    • ECM.
    • 1.

  • George Gershwin

    Catfish Row Suite (from Porgy and Bess)

    Orchestra: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • VOXBOX CDX5007.
    • VOXBOX.
    • 10.

Broadcast

  • Fri 4 Jan 201912:00
    BBC Radio 3

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