Piece Description

"An American in Paris" is George Gershwin's musical diary of his time spent in Paris during the 1920's. Gershwin scored "An American in Paris" for the standard instruments of the orchestra, plus saxophone and automobile horns. Conductor Andrew Litton says Gershwin "captures both the American spirit" and the bustling, jazzy sounds of Paris, circa 1920. He also theorizes that had Gershwin lived past the age of 39, he would have likely written even greater music than "An American in Paris". Use this clip to enhance your introduction of Andrew Litton conducting "An American in Paris." (Delos DE 3216 and Delos DE 1606). This clip is also suitable for other recordings of "An American in Paris", but with an adjusted Outro.

SUGGESTED HOST INTRO
Conductor Andrew Litton says George Gershwin perfectly captured the American spirit in "An American in Paris", and it's a work he both celebrates and laments in a personal way.

CLIP TRANSCRIPT
"The fact that it has taxi horns in it and jazz elements of course makes certain critics sneer and laugh with derision. But I'm a huge fan of that work and I just would have loved it, obviously, if we hadn't been deprived of this great composer's life so early to see what else he would have given us because I think... and I think if we look at what Giuseppe Verdi was writing when he was thirty-six compared to what he was writing when he was 60 and 70 we just would have had a totally different kind of genius, and I equate Verdi with Gershwin very strongly in that they were both were masters of theater and they were both were masters of melody."

SUGGESTED HOST OUTRO
Conductor Andrew Litton. This is Gershwin's "An American in Paris". Andrew Litton conducts the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

(To download a .txt file of this suggested copy, look under the "Additional Files" for this piece.)


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