Piano Concerto in F Major

Gershwin composed his Concerto in F in 1925 at the height of classical music’s love affair with American jazz, and yet the three-movement piece is often regarded as his most “classical” score by virtue of its grandeur and formal elegance. Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Symphony, commissioned the score following the swaggering success of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (1924), and the 27-year-old composer himself was piano soloist at the 1925 premiere. The first movement is a reminder of Gershwin’s popular music credentials, introducing a brisk, syncopated Charleston rhythm that represented what he described as “the young enthusiastic spirit of American life”. The pianist then introduces a lush, introspective melody, and the two themes are developed over the course of this mercurial movement. Gershwin described the tender slow movement as possessing “a poetic, nocturnal tone”, though there are bluesy, playful and soaring passages. The third movement is dominated by a driving, toccata-like theme, along with reminiscences of the first two movements—a nod to the 19th-century concerto format.