(pianoforte)
George Gershwin is exceptional among popular composers of jazz music, because he can boast of having received a first-rate musical training. He began as a composer of popular songs, but soon turned to more ambitious things. In addition to over thirty-five musical comedies, Gershwin has written several important orchestral compositions in the jazz idiom. One of his best works, ' An American in Paris ', was first performed by the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under Walter Damrosch. ' Rhapsody in Blue' is not only distinguished as Gershwin's most popular work, but as being the first jazz composition expressly written for the concert hall. Unlike ' An American in Paris ', the Rhapsody does not set out to illustrate a story, but is intended to be merely an entertaining piece of abstract music.