|
Gershwin Among Friends
Linn Maxwell Keller, mezzo-soprano
Rich Ridenour, piano
Ava Ordman, trombone
Mike Crawford, bass
Bill Vits, drums
Gershwin Among Friends
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
There was nothing special about the way George Gershwin came into this world. His life started out very similar to countless other boys. Born September 26, 1898 to Russian immigrant parents in New York City, one of the young boy's favorite pastimes was playing stick ball with his friends on the Lower East Side. Athletics were his first love, and he excelled at nearly every sport he tried.
Another pastime was fist fighting George was often getting himself into skirmishes of one kind or another a pursuit that eventually cost him a broken nose. It wasn't that George didn't get along with other boys; in fact, he was always in the company of friends. George's fights usually stemmed from rather "American" characteristics independence, opportunism, and ingenuity developing in him a confidence that would ultimately set him apart from the rest and would distinguish him as one of the truly original voices of American music.
"Mr. Music," as George would later be known, didn't learn his way into the music scene. He earned his way. Music wasn't much of a focus in his young life. His parents weren't musical and though he certainly heard a great variety of music in New York City, it never occurred to George that he could pursue music as a career. Then one day when he was ten he heard a violin performance by a fellow student, eight-year-old Maxie Rosenzweig. (George didn't actually attend the recital. He heard the sound as he stood outside PS25 in a pouring rain.) He was so awestruck by the power of the music and the beauty of the performance that he went out of his way to befriend the younger boy (who grew up to be the great violinist Max Rosen). Together the boys talked about music. George began to teach himself on the piano. Eventually, he studied the instrument, and even considered a career as a performer, but life took a different twist. George dropped out of high school at the age of 15 to take a job as a song "plugger" for Remicks Music Publishers, in the heart of the fabled Tin Pan Alley. The promise of steady work, and the allure of "making it" in music drove George to work hard. He improvised accompaniments to the songs he was playing for hours on end. And in 1916 George finally got one of his own songs published When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em, When You Got 'Em, You Don't Want 'Em. It was a rather mild accomplishment, but now George was convinced he was on his way. Though success was slow in coming, George took advantage of one opportunity after another. He made friendships and earned devotees all along the short road of his life. When he died following emergency brain surgery, just short of his 39th birthday, the world mourned. Hollywood film sets simultaneously stopped production for a moment of silence. George Gershwin and his music had touched millions of lives. From the concert hall to the Broadway stage, to the silver screen of Hollywood, Gershwin represented the good in American life. When we hear his music today, or when we gather together with friends to play and sing the songs, we partake in part of the richness of our American heritage. He truly was, as Leonard Bernstein would later write, "one of the greatest voices that ever rang out in the history of American urban culture."
About The Music
Just as George Gershwin was himself a product of diverse cultural influences, so his songs represent a variety of musical forms, styles and mediums.
This collection spans the entire creative period of Gershwin's life, from The Real American Folk Song (written in 1918, and the first collaboration with George's brother Ira) to the songs for the 1938 movie "The Goldwyn Follies," Love Walked in, I Love To Rhyme, and Our Love is Here To Stay, released after the composer's sudden death.
Gershwin's friendships and alliances are evident as well. There are eight songs written for Fred Astaire and/or Ginger Rogers, including Slap That Bass, Promenade, They All Laughed and They Can't Take That Away From Me from the 1937 movie "Shall We Dance." There are two songs from the
Broadway musical "Girl Crazy," I Got Rhythm and But Not For Me, notable for the fact that the show was the Broadway debut for Ethel Merman and featured a pit orchestra that included the likes of Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman.
There is a serious side to Gershwin's music, but not too serious. The three Preludes feature the interesting and characteristic rhythmic and harmonic language found in many of Gershwin's compositions for the concert hall, while It Ain't Necessarily So and Oh Lawd, I'm On My Way, are from "Porgy and Bess," perhaps the quintessential American opera.
Regardless of the medium for which they are intended, the musical styles of the songs are always intimately connected to the text, ranging from the innocent infatuation of S'Wonderful to the hip worldliness of Slap That Bass. In between we encounter the emotional spectrum, from the humorous, highbrow irony of By Strauss to the sullen loneliness of the torch song Someone to Watch Over Me.
Linn Maxwell Keller, Mezzo-Soprano
A native of Indiana, mezzo-soprano Linn Maxwell Keller enjoys a rich and varied career which has taken her to the stages of major orchestras, opera companies and recital halls all across the United States and 23 foreign countries. Ms. Keller has been heard on tour with Helmuth Rilling and the orchestras of Toronto, Cleveland and the National Arts Center in Ottawa; with the symphonies of Chicago, Seattle, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Springfield (Illinois), San Antonio, Kansas City, Rochester, Denver, Brooklyn, Minnesota, the American Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the U.N.A.M. of Mexico City. In demand with oratorio and choral societies, Ms. Keller has appeared with the Rochester Bach Festival (for 12 seasons), the Oregon, Kalamazoo and Carmel Bach Festivals, the Oratorio Society of Washington (Kennedy Center), the Pro Arte Chorale at Carnegie Hall, the Oratorio Society of Utah in a nationally televised performance of Handel's Messiah from the Mormon Tabernacle, and on several occasions with Musica Sacra at Lincoln Center. In recent seasons she has sung the Mozart Requiem with the Sofia Philharmonic (Bulgaria), the world premiere of Mary Cassatt by Libby Larsen with the Grand Rapids Symphony and in 1997 she performed a program of Russian opera arias in the Easter Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Linn Maxwell Keller began her career in Europe, spending two seasons at the Städtische Bühnen in Essen, Germany, and also singing major operatic roles with the opera companies of Strassbourg, Lyon, Toulouse and the Netherlands. She later returned to Germany for performances with the Berlin Radio Orchestra. Her opera engagements in the United States have included the San Francisco Opera in the role of Rosina; two appearances with the Santa Fe Opera; the role of Nicklausse in Tales of Hoffmann with the Cincinnati Opera; and two Mozart roles with Opera Grand Rapids. She has played two roles in the highly acclaimed off-Broadway production of The Mother Of Us All which was performed in New York, Stockbridge, Wolf Trap, and again at Lincoln Center.
Ms. Keller was a winner of the Joy in Singing Award, which enabled her to present her New York recital debut at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, she has made three tours to South America giving recitals, master classes, concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru and the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, and appearing on television. In 1984 she received the National Endowment for the Arts' Solo Recitalist Grant, which subsidized recital performances all across the country. In 1988 she made a post-Olympics recital tour of Korea.
Linn Maxwell Keller is a graduate of the University of Maryland and holds a Master of Music degree from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. She has served on the faculties of Michigan State University, the University of Maryland and the Bay View Music Festival. She has recorded for RCA Red Seal, New World, Centaur and Albany Records.
Producer: Philip Rose
Recording Engineer: James Krick, On Location Recordings
Mixing Mastering Engineer: Carl Hordyke, Critical Audio
Cover Art: "Gershwin Among Friends," Susan Seavitt, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Gershwin Among Friends
Linn Maxwell Keller, mezzo-soprano
Rich Ridenour, piano
Ava Ordman, trombone · Mike Crawford, bass · Bill Vits, drums
By Strauss (3:09)
I Got Rhythm (2:36)
S'Wonderful (3:02)
Slap That Bass (3:06)
It Ain't Necessarily So (4:40)
The Real American Folk Song (3:25)
Prelude No. 1 (1:46)
Prelude No. 2 (4:22)
Prelude No. 3 (1:22)
Funny Face (2:11)
Love Walked In (2:16)
Promenade (2:50)
They All Laughed (2:23)
I Love To Rhyme (2:03)
Three Quarter Blues (1:18)
Someone to Watch Over Me (3:50)
Our Love Is Here to Stay (3:13)
But Not For Me (2:26)
They Can't Take That Away (3:35)
O Lawd, I'm on My Way (1:41)
Total Time = 55:22
|
