Dobson Symphony Orchestra

Step Up Concert – January 31, 2008

Rhapsody in Blue...........................................................George Gershwin/Jerry Brubaker

Originally written for solo piano and jazz band, this new arrangement for symphony orchestra and optional piano employs the main themes from the original score. Gershwin described the conception of the piece to his first biographer in this way: "It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer - I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise... And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper - the complete construction of the Rhapsody, from beginning to end. No new themes came to me, but I worked on the thematic material already in my mind and tried to conceive the composition as a whole. I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our blues, our metropolitan madness. By the time I reached Boston I had a definite plot of the piece, as distinguished from its actual substance."

Suite from Video Games Live.......................................................................arr. Ralph Ford

Halo • Civilization IV • Bounty Hunter • Kingdom Hearts