Canfield: Rhapsody after Gershwin (violin and piano)

Code: JP9019
ISMN: 979-0-3019-0548-7

Rhapsody after Gershwin for Violin and Orchestra by David DeBoor Canfield. This item (JP9019) listed on this web page is a piano reduction of the accompaniment. The complete orchestra set is also available (JP6037)

Rather than write a work in slavish imitation of the great American tunesmith, George Gershwin, Canfield elected to engage in a bit of speculation and so attempted to write something that Gershwin might have conceivably written had he lived another ten or so years. This allowed Canfield to take a slightly more "concert hall" approach to the piece, especially in its harmonic treatment and somewhat more serious tone. The opening, for instance, is in a minor key. This approach also allowed him the luxury of leaving in those sections that perhaps sound more like Canfield than Gershwin. After all, who can say what Gershwin might have done if he'd lived to the age of 70? Regardless, the piece is structured along the lines of Gershwin's Rhapsody, and like that seminal work, is essentially a sequence of tunes with relatively little development of them. Criticism leveled against Rhapsody in Blue for this alleged defect seems not to have hurt its popularity in the least, and so Canfield hopes that the tunes that he has employed herein will help carry the day as well.

Total duration: 18:54.

This work has been recorded on Toccata Classics (TOCC 0346) with Rachel Patrick, violin, and Sinfonia Varsovia, Ian Hopson, conductor. The complete rhapsody may be heard online at the following link:
Canfield: Rhapsody after Gershwin

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