Disklavier Piano Channels George Gershwin for Florida Orchestra

by Paul Conneally | March 6, 2010 at 08:42 am

308 views | 4 Recommendations | 0 comments

George Gershwin will join the Florida Orchestra in a performance of Rhapsody In Blue thanks to a Yamaha Disklavier grand piano that will play a version of the solo as played by Gershwin himself in 1925.

The version comes from a piano roll made by Gershwin himself that has been converted into a midi file that the high-tech Disklavier will play alongside the full orchestra.

This will be the nearest that anyone has ever come to hearing the piece played as Gershwin himself envisaged. Gershwin died at 38 in 1937.

George and Ira Gershwin wrote many classics of the American songbook including An American in Paris, Strike up the Band, I Got Rhythm, Isn't it a Pity, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off, The Man I Love, Nice Work if You Can Get It, Shall We Dance, Somebody to Watch Over Me, and They Can't Take That Away from Me.

Orchestra and music director Stefan Sanderling will come on stage with a Yamaha Disklavier grand piano which is high-tech and sophisticated in nature. A midi file has been produced from a piano roll made by Gershwin in 1925. With the help of this MIDI file and the high-tech piano, the solo piano part will be played.

His ghost was summoned up by the Florida Orchestra who took to the stage without a live piano player but took with them a Yamaha Disklavier Grand Piano.