Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 02/11/2010, uploaded on 02/11/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Virtuoso Etudes                           George Gershwin

transcribed and arranged by Earl Wild

The Man I Love; Fascinatin' Rhythm; Embraceable You; Somebody Loves Me; I Got Rhythm

Pittsburgh-born Earl Wild is another in the long line of virtuoso pianists who have adapted popular music of their time for their own performances-usually as encores. Wild's experience with the music of Gershwin goes back to 1942, when Wild performed Rhapsody in Blue under the baton of Arturo Toscanini.  Wild also wrote Grand Fantasy on Airs from Porgy and Bess, which premiered in 1977. The transcriptions on today's program are from a set of seven and respecitively come from Strike Up the Band (1927), Lady Be Good (1924), Girl Crazy (1930), George White's Scandals of 1924, and, again, Girl Crazy.

Mr. Wild died on January 23, 2010

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.