Debussy's music really is something very special, and his impact on the composers of following generations can hardly be overrated.

@@mrtchaikovsky Thank you! Sa douceur viens de loin, de Bach et Mozart. Il aimait beacoup la musique de Bach, mais il avait etudié aussi le Moyen Age et la Renaissance et bien on retrouve les rhytmes grecques en la musique de Debussy mais surtout en cela - en ce point de vue - de Ravel. Il restera un phare, un symbole de toute la musique!

Zoltán Székely, the soloist of the première, complained that it was too symphonic; he wanted the work to end "like a concerto, not like a symphony".

@@mrtchaikovsky I must confess I agree with him- not only does it feel not great for the violinist themselves to play, but I sort of felt as a listener that I was awaiting another entrance of the solo violin which never happened. Much as this ending is cool, I feel it doesn't really fit the piece.

@@natedogggaming1607 Yeah it's just awkward for the soloist to stand tacet while the orchestra goes nuts at the end of a violin concerto

The substantial comment you left under the original video is worth quoting in full: "How interesting to hear this. Szell's biographer Michael Charry tells us that Szell composed music from age 8 to 23, the year of this piece. Szell later utterly rejected his compositions and in the '60's discouraged Louis Lane from even trying to revive this piece. But in 1992 the late Mo. Lane was able to make this fine recording. What we hear is completely derivative of the music Richard Strauss wrote in this same period (I was especially reminded of Josephslegende). Nonetheless, it shows complete technical mastery and falls very gratefully on the ears, even if it feels more like a rhapsody than an overture. By the way, Strauss was in this same period Szell's mentor as a conductor. This work leaves us with the question, when is a person writing music a 'real composer'? In Szell's own concept, he did not make the grade, despite his great technical ability."

It's great fun, especially the swashbuckling section at 4:51.

The main difference is that Bix was a genuine "Jazzman" while George was more of an outsider looking in; Gershwin was a Tin Pan Alley songwriter first and foremost.

@@mrtchaikovsky Gershwin, an outsider looking in, as you put it. Bix was an insider looking out. Listening to a Debussy piano solo, can see his influence on Bix. Pity they didn't survive longer.

@@thornsaresharp I think it's difficult to find any 20th century musician who wasn't influenced by Debussy to some degree; he was a giant.

Addictive, isn't it? Whenever I turn to these, I find myself listening to the whole set a few times in a row. Quite shocking that there wasn't a score video yet. This was one of the first works by Roussel I ever encountered (the first was Évocations), and I've always favoured this recording.

@@mrtchaikovsky -- Yes, it's great.....thanks for 'discovering'! Are you still in Ireland? Happy New Year!

Det är vackert, inte sant? Det är på svenska eftersom Sibelius var finlandssvensk och därför hade svenska, inte finska, som modersmål. (Jag vet inte varför youtube inte visar din kommentar.)

@@mrtchaikovskytack, jag ser min egen kommentar! Vi svenskar; särskilt sådana som jag med en mamma som var född i Haparanda och som tidigare gift med en finlandssvenska, med sommarställe i Ekenäs skärgård etc; har en alldeles särskild svaghet för det finska och då inte minst för Sibbe och Runeberg.

It's a real charmer, isn't it? I invite you to take a look at the other videos on my channel, in case you shouldn't have done so already. I've also recently uploaded an orchestral suite by Roger Quilter on one of my other channels which should be very much to your liking. Cheers!

Wow, Mr. Mintun himself! I've been watching your channel long before I even had a youtube account, and I still enjoy your elegant piano stylings as much as I did back then. Thank you for the information. It's true that, as far as other song composers are concerned, Coward seems to have been particularly fond of Kern's music, probably because he was personally acquainted with him, if memory serves correctly. Cheers!

Thank you kindly! It's not too late to correct the description so others know that Coward did not write the first song played by Gibby!

@@petermintunmusic 'Twas done. Do you happen to know by any chance who wrote the lyrics for the songs in question?

Thank you for the kind words. I know your problems all too well, since there is a huge discrepancy between the standard sheet music arrangements of the Great American Songbook and the actual performances of the artists and composers in the 30s and 40s. That being said, I recommend looking up some Billy Mayerl sheet music on imslp (a website were you can legally download lots of sheet music for free). He was an accomplished popular pianist in the first half of the last century who knew the style inside out, and his compositions are the closest I've ever seen to authentic notation of this way of playing, including stride.

I think Gershwin was simply in the right place at the right time. Bix couldn't read music and relied on Whiteman's arranger Bill Challis to write these pieces down, and considering that this set includes almost all of Bix' compositions, I presume Whiteman didn't consider Bix to be capable of writing the kind of prestigious "Symphonic Jazz" he was hoping for, if he knew Bix was composing at all. I suppose he didn't ask his staff arranger Ferde Grofé, who actually orchestrated Gershwin's two piano score, for similar reasons.* Of the other big names in the business, none really fit the bill: Harold Arlen and Richard Rodgers were still too young to have made any impression, and Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern weren't really suitable for this kind of project (I'm pretty sure Kern loathed Jazz). On the other hand, not only did Whiteman work with Gershwin before, Gershwin also wrote a one-act "Jazz opera" titled "Blue Monday" in 1922, and so was a likely candidate. Curiously enough, Cole Porter was not yet established as a song writer in these days, but did have his only classical composition premièred in 1923, the Jazz ballet "Beyond the Quota"**, as a curtain raiser to Milhaud's "La création du monde", another early attempt to merge Jazz with classical music. Similar entries in that genre include George Antheil's "Jazz Symphony"***, and Martinů's "Le Jazz" from 1928. I invite you to take a look at Rhythm Boy Al Rinker's composition "Peter Peter punkin eater" on my channel, another example of early "Symphonic Jazz". *While Grofé went on to compose several well-known large scale pieces of his own, he only started doing so in 1924 with the symphonic poem "Broadway at Night", after the Rhapsody premièred. **Orchestrated by non other than eminent composer and music theorist Charles Koechlin. If you haven't done so already, I highly recommend taking a look at some of his music. ***Make sure to listen to the original 1925 version, not the de-fanged 1955 revision; the Maurice Peress recording is excellent.

Thanks very much for such an Indepth response. Very kind of you indeed to educate me. The name Koechlin rang a bell, and a quick search brought up his Violin Sonata. I play Jazz Violin, so this will be an interesting piece to get to know. Any help in that department is a rare thing, greatly appreciated. I will certainly spend some time exploring your channel. Tchaikovsky is my Classical hero you could say. Cheers, Jack@@mrtchaikovsky

Rhapsody in Blue was completed in January of 1924, when Bix Beiderbecke was still 19. Bix was fairly unknown; he had not even begun to record with the Wolverines, and Whiteman likely had never heard of him.

Have you heard Stephanie Trick?

It was "Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead" by The Fifth Estate...and it was much more than just a local hit.

And by Jove, what a musician!

@@mrtchaikovsky he rocks...BIX ROX

I'm afraid I don't know. It's generally very difficult to find any information about this work; I myself only stumbled upon it by accident.

@@mrtchaikovsky I enjoyed it! He was brother to Mildred Bailey.

@@rafi1234321 I know. I'm a longtime Bing fan, which is how I discovered Harry Barris and Mr. Rinker. Al is a bit of the forgotten one, considering Bing's towering fame, Harry's modest success as a songwriter with several film appearances to his credit (Holiday Inn, The Lost Weekend etc.) and of course Rinker's well-known sister. Nevertheless, Rinker definitely left his mark, not only as the man who helped Bing to stardom, but also as the composer of "Ev'rybody wants to be a cat" from the famous Disney movie.

That's the one I'm talking about.

As you can see, it is dedicated "to the memory of Maurice Ravel". The wording is somewhat curious, however, since Ravel was still alive when the piece was written (1933). Nevertheless, the work is expertly crafted, and I for one can't get enough of Ravel, so this meets my needs completely.

@@mrtchaikovsky didn't notice that the piece is a homage to Ravel. Btw, if you are looking for ravel inspired piece, go check out Angelo Gilardino's Tombeau de Ravel, I like it very much!