Music: Gershwin Everywhere

When Rhapsody in Blue was first played —with young Composer George Gershwin at the piano and Paul Whiteman's big, brassy band shattering the serenity of Manhattan's Aeolian Hall—neither audience nor critics liked their first taste of concert jazz. The Herald Tribune objected to its "complete lifelessness." Most audiences, if not critics, have changed their tune in the 21 years since then.

Last week the U.S. plunged headlong into a season of Gershwin such as no composer has ever had before. It premised to outdin by far the boom of Mozart (aided & abetted by...

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