Program notes by Patricia Matos-Puente, Music, Wellesley Class of 1980: Composer George Gershwin was already a successful pianist and writer of Broadway show-tunes in 1924 when he was approached by band leader Paul Whiteman to compose a concerto-like piece for a concert entitled "an Experiment in Modern Music". Gershwin's inspiration for the piece came to him during a train ride: "I heard it as a...musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness." Originally scored for two pianos, the work is called a Rhapsody, rather than a concerto, because it is a single movement and contains passages of improvisation. Whiteman's clarinetist Ross Gorman played the opening measure with a wailing glissando as a musical joke during the first rehearsal. Gershwin liked it and so did Whiteman's audience, who had the opportunity to hear it played some 84 times that first year! Whiteman's band took on the Rhapsody as its theme song, opening radio programs with the slogan "everything new but the Rhapsody in Blue!" This became Gershwin's most popular work and marked the beginning of the powerful influence of Jazz in the classical music world. Tonight's arrangement incorporates the piano solos into the band.