Performers
- Paul Lay Trio
- Paul Lay piano
- Clemens van der Feen double bass
- Donald Kontomanou percussion
- Sinfonia Varsovia
- Jean-François Verdier conductor
Programme
George Gershwin (arr. Paul Lay, orch. Philippe Maniez)
Nice work if you can get it
It ain’t necessarily so
George Gershwin/Paul Lay Rhapsody in Blue Extended 1924–2024 in version for jazz trio and orchestra
Paul Lay Cuban Interlude (orch. Philippe Maniez)
George Gershwin Summertime (arr. Paul Lay, orch. Philippe Maniez)
Concert description
“It’s a nice job if you can get it,” states one of George Gershwin’s songs, with lyrics by his brother Ira. As a teenager, the composer performed songs and sold note sheets for them in one of the stores on New York’s Tin Pan Alley. Did he consider this work nice? He certainly learned a lot then, and shortly thereafter his own songs became famous, later ending up on Broadway and in Hollywood films, like A Damsel in Distress with Fred Astaire. It is from this film that Nice work if you can get it comes.
Also Gershwin’s longer works, for which he is revered as a composer of “classical” music, are permeated by the element of song. This is the case, for example, with the opera Porgy and Bess, whose libretto depicts the life of a smaller town. The poor African-American neighborhood of Catfish Row in Charleston gives a sense of community – children are sung lullabies here (Summertime), people pray together (gospels) and mourn the dead (spirituals). Sometimes, however, it’s also a dangerous place, where you can be killed by an opponent after winning a dice game. But going to New York doesn’t necessarily mean “breaking out” at all, and can sometimes be a further continuation of a miserable fate. Such is the case with the eponymous Bess, who is taken there by a cynically mocking Bible (It ain’t necessarily so) drug dealer, Sportin’ Life.
Fortunately for Gershwin himself, the city of his birth was friendly to him. For example, it enthusiastically welcomed Rhapsody in Blue, described as “an experiment in modern music” that brought jazz to philharmonic stages. To this day, its author’s music invites us to try something new – to elaborate on it, to develop it, to respond creatively. Such is undoubtedly the activity of Paul Lay and his trio.
– Dominika Micał (pisanezesluchu.pl)