Summary
"I'm convinced it's the best thing ever written and recorded in the history of things written and recorded" - Moby.
Rhapsody in Blue was premiered on February 12, 1924, in New York's Aeolian Hall.
Through its use at the opening of Woody Allen's 'Manhattan' it’s become synonymous with the city that inspired its creation.
But for people around the world, George Gershwin's "experiment in modern music" has become imbued with the most personal of memories.
LA based screenwriter Charles Peacock reflects on how this piece has become entwined with his life and how, on an evening at the Hollywood Bowl this music "healed him". When Adela Galasiu was growing up in communist Romania, Rhapsody in Blue represented "life itself, as seen through the eyes of an optimist".
For world speed champion Gina Campbell, the opening of that piece will forever remind her of the roar of the Bluebird's ignition as it flew through the "glass like stillness of the water" and brings back the memories of her father, the legendary Donald Campbell - it was played at his funeral when he was finally laid to rest decades after his fatal record attempt on Coniston Lake.
Featuring interviews with:
Professor of Music, Howard Pollock Musician, Moby
Producer: Nicola Humphries
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others. |
| 0:05.1 | My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland. |
| 0:11.3 | It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here, |
| 0:16.2 | but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world. |
| 0:19.6 | And because the team is such a diverse |
| 0:21.1 | range of skills and strengths, we've trained journalists, people who love digging through |
| 0:25.9 | archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice. So |
| 0:31.6 | if you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories |
| 0:37.0 | from all around the UK. |
| 0:38.8 | The thing that really hit me over the head about the Rhapsody in Blue is the clarinet, |
| 0:42.9 | glissando in the beginning, which just does that. |
| 1:05.5 | Yeah. I think the first time I heard it, it just knocked my socks off. |
| 1:14.4 | It just absolutely insists on your intention. |
| 1:36.2 | It's funny, it's sad, it's lovely, it's quiet, it's loud. It's loud. |
| 1:36.2 | You know, it's a bit of a hot mess, but in such a wonderful way, it really just reminds me of life. |
| 2:12.0 | Yeah. My name is Charles Peacock, Charles Philip Peacock, Jr. I'm a writer. I live in Los Angeles, |
| 2:20.3 | and at the moment, I'm actually just completing a screenplay for a feature film that is about cancer. |
| 2:23.0 | And it's also in part a musical. |
| 2:37.1 | George Gershwin had already started to have a bit more significance in my life as of about a year and a half ago when I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, a cancerous brain tumor, in fact. And as it turns out, |
| 2:43.4 | the exact same type of cancerous brain tumor that George Gershwin died of. He had the same type of brain cancer, which is a really rare one, especially in younger people, glioblastoma, specifically. |
| 2:50.2 | It's very rare. And I had found that out, and I think |
| 2:55.0 | I just looked into it a bit more because I was curious. As I dug into it, I figured out that he had |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.