The New York Times: It is one of the most famous pieces of American music — but for 70 years orchestras may have been playing one of its best-known effects wrong.
The work is George Gershwin’s jaunty, jazzy symphonic poem “An American in Paris,” and the effect involves a set of instruments that were decidedly not standard equipment when it was written in 1928: French taxi horns, which honk in several places as the music evokes the urban soundscape that a Yankee tourist experiences while exploring the City of Light.
1 comment:
I am a huge fan of all of Gershwin's iconic scores from the early 1900's, but I think this is one of, if not his masterpiece.And I understand the wanting to preserve and present his work in the most "authentic" and correct way. And for the purpose of Michigan to present his work in the most authentic form possible, I think that they're doing the right thing, investigating super deeply into the depths of his original sheet music and musicologists scourging to find the answer.But I also agree with RObert Fisher, the adapter of the original score for Broadway. I wouldn't change it now. I'm all for believing and advocating that music and works of art are always adaptable and change throughout time is a good thing. And also, I think that if i were an audience member sitting at An American in Paris the night that they shifted to the correct B flat horn, etc... i would just think "Wow whoever is on the car horn needs to pull it together". it's just so engrained in our memories and in the identity of that song that the notes are A,B,C, and D. But they really do sound more like car horns the other, intended way. I think that both parties should do what's best for the piece. I just think the whole thing is funny, and Gershwin would probably be smacking himself for such a simple error for such a big debate.
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