To listen to Vladimir Dukelsky’s Piano Concerto in C attentively, is to become aware how little one knows about him. It is also to become aware of the gullibility with which we had accepted his more popular incarnation as Vernon Duke. At what moment and by what means this alias version of Sergei Prokokiev’s dear friend and Vladimir Horowitz’s classmate way back at the Kiev Conservatory fades into a montage of Vladimir Dukelsky is difficult to ascertain. Some people attribute it to the first performance of the concerto in 1999 as part of the “The Gershwin Circle,” a series of performances which focused on the international impact of American pianism, with George Gershwin and his music as a nucleus, presented by the American Composers Orchestra in Carnegie Hall.
This composition is Dukelsky-Duke’s ‘lost’ concerto, originally written in 1923 at the request of the rising concert pianist and Aeolian Duo-Art and AMPICO player piano recording artist, Arthur Rubinstein. Perhaps Arthur Rubinstein with his phrase about ‘a one-movement, pianistically grateful, not too cerebral’ piece gave momentum to this 20 year old Russian emigré who was playing the piano in restaurants and conducting and composing for vaudeville and burlesque. Or perhaps it was the phrase ‘go to Paris’ where a premiere would be easier for Rubinstein to stage. Vladimir Dukelsky went to Paris, Arthur Rubinstein did not. The ‘lost’ Piano Concerto in C stayed in its original two-piano score for 76 years until Scott Dunn orchestrated it for its 1999 premiere.
Tags: Arthur Rubinstein, George Gershwin, I Can't Get Started, Piano Concerto in C, Scott Dunn, Vernon Duke
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August 11, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Janet B.
I’m so proud of the work my daughter, Liz, is doing. I hope others enjoy her writing, recordings, singing and playing as much as I do. She’s come a long way since those days in Belleville and East St. Louis, IL and St. Louis, MO, Carlisle, PA……and The New England Conservatory in Boston, MA. My mom, her “Nana” would love her writings about Tin Pan Alley. Ah, how I miss the old days when she, with her talented sister, would mezmerize us family members with songs and guitar. One day we raced by car to Pittsburgh to hear Vladimir Horowitz; I don’t know how it happened but we got front row seats right in front of this genius-pianist. Then there were the days of “the blues”, jazz and the hot music of the “70s, in particular. Now she is far away in southern Brazil (I’m in Central Pennsylvania), using her vast musical background to present sacred teachings and music to the world. May this work benefit all peoples of the world. Most of all……..enjoy it all.
August 15, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Liz Hamill
But Mom, you didn’t say anything about your rare June Christy and Chris Connor records. Or what about how you always brought home the latest Wilson Pickett, Amhad Jamal and Booker T and the MGs. What about Miles’ Spanish period and your Sergio Mendez recordings? What about your insistence that we listen to the Rachmaninoff Preludes and your own playing of Debussy? Remember how we blasted Led Zepplin out the window? “Whole Lotta Love” in 12 inch speakers? It was a blast! Without you, none of what is written here would be, much less my very life.
September 17, 2008 at 8:46 am
Janet B.
Ah, yes! Those artists are still dear to my heart. I still have all those records. I also used to blast out (via radio in those days) The Blues, sung by some of the throatiest singers in E. St. Louis, IL and St. Louis, MO. This…….in ultra conservative O’Fallon, IL. I was so surprised my mother didn’t put a stop to it; she was usually concerned about “what the neighbors thought”. I was always kind of “on the fringe” with my musical tastes in the 1950s. I didn’t know anyone my age who liked the music I did, or who drove down to E. St. Louis to buy BBQ ribs. This locality was very racist in those days.
September 19, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Liz Hamill
@Janet It seems like New York was not the only “Tin Pan Alley” in the US. Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit had music publishing houses too and player pianos pumping away. And George Gershwin was someone who was crossing over. I haven’t read it yet — but want to — but Carol Oja’s book “Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s” addresses his significance in terms of crossing the sound barrier. We’ll see…thank you for crossing those lines too.