Spring and the City

Henryk Wars gained great fame with catchy songs such as Umówiłem się z nią na dziewiątą (I am meeting her at nine), Ach, śpij, kochanie (Oh, fall asleep, honey), and Tylko we Lwowie (Only in Lviv). However, his compositional skills extended much further. He wrote pioneering pieces and was a forerunner of jazz in Poland. His three-movement City Sketches can be considered a kind of "jazz symphony," drawing inspiration from Paul Whiteman.

Geroge Gershwin also achieved fame thanks to catchy songs, record-breaking Broadway shows, and above all, the delightful Rhapsody in Blue. It is a thoroughly American piece, and the composer himself called it "a musical kaleidoscope of America". The circumstances in which the work was created are no less intriguing than the work itself. Just like in science, in music, a composer's epiphany often comes at the least expected moment. There are less than five weeks until the premiere and Gershwin has not yet written a single note. The more nervously he thought about the piece, the less inspiration he found. The long-awaited musical eureka moment suddenly appeared while the composer was traveling by train. He recalled: the mechanical rhythm [of the train],these knocks and thuds... It often turns out that noise is an inspiration for composers. I myself often hear music in the heart of noise. And it was then, on that train, that I suddenly heard, indeed saw on paper, the entire structure of Rhapsody, from beginning to end. The premiere of the piece turned out to be a spectacular success, and the piano part was performed by the composer himself.

Similarly, Schumann's First Symphony, commonly known as the Spring Symphony, became an immediate hit after its premiere in March 1841. Achieving such success was no easy feat in the post-Beethoven era, but Schumann managed it. The youthful radiance of this symphony, its highly versatile use of orchestral colors, and the composer's romantic spirit are the essence of this music.

Rhapsody in Blue performed by Michel Camilo and hr-Sinfonieorchester – Frankfurt Radio Symphony conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada:

Schumann's Symphony No. 1 performed by the NDR Sinfonieorchester conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi: