American in Paris with a Twist!

Gershwin's "American in Paris" with the original saxophone scoring. This season, Gershwin’s “American in Paris” is being programmed with orchestras all across the country with a renewed appreciation of this American masterpiece. As well it should: this great American tone poem magically and ebulliently captures the vibrant American spirit of the time that is unmatched in music. I recently performed it with the wonderful Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra (Connecticut) under the new leadership of conductor and music director Eduardo Leando. In preparation for the concert I thought to revisit Gershwin’s remarkable original saxophone orchestration. Gershwin scored “American in Paris” for the traditional symphony orchestra, then added taxi horns, saxophones and celeste to give brilliant color and unique associations. The work was first performed in 1928, published in 1929, then republished a few years later with scoring revisions made by the publisher. The revised scoring, which is what has been available from the 1930s until just a few years ago, is scored for alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. In my research on the orchestral use of the saxophone, I found the original 1929 published score with Gershwin's original scoring (1928) The saxophone instrumentation - Gershwin's own - is more elaborate and colorful than the revised, post-1930 publication. With the inclusion of three soprano saxophones, as well as varying combinations of altos, Gershwin provided a far greater array of 1920s American color, creating an even livelier score far closer to Gershwin’s intent. The music has a real 1920's sparkle and “sass” absent from the revised scoring. (The spectacle and sound of three soprano saxophones, with “bells in air” as the score implores, is just such an exuberant celebration. It adds a truly festive quality to the performance.) And the puzzle of the last two measures - that of the solo alto sax solo immersed in the full orchestra - is solved when revealed that Gershwin scored that solo for two altos (!) as part of the saxophone scoring. The original saxophone parts are 1st Sax alto (includes soprano double) 2 sax Tenor (includes soprano and alto double) 3rd sax Bari (includes soprano and alto double) This original scoring is now found in the new critical edition of American in Paris that has been issued a few years ago. I’ve played the original scoring many times with orchestras across the USA with enthusiastic response. Conductor Eduardo Leando was interested in this scoring, but we were not able to explore it with him until an hour before our concert! (rehearsals were with the traditional scoring). We were all game for the challenge. The saxes met for a quick rehearsal at 6, Eduardo came at 630 to try it out, and by concert time we were playing Gershwin’s remarkable original orchestration. Eduardo featured the soprano trio in a demonstration before the performance, and the audience was set for a very special evening with Gershwin. The video shows the rehearsal and the conductor session. My thanks to Yvette Sakow and Zachary Kern for being part of this amazing section. 1920s Americana comes alive!