Heating up the mash water now and about to queue up Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite". Most people know it from the third movement ("On the Trail") for its uses on the Disneyland railroad, and probably more broadly, as (very cleverly applied!) incidental music in "A Christmas Story". To me its one of my favorite things to listen to, particularly lately, and when I discovered it, I realized that it had basically everything I loved about Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" but had failed to find in Gershwin's other works. Turns out Gershwin wrote the piece for two pianos, and then Grofe took it from there, first arranging it for Paul Whiteman's jazz band and then scaling up with a couple symphonic orchestrations, the latter being what most of us know as Rhapsody in Blue. Not to discount Gershwin's authoring, but Grofe definitely left his fingerprints on those arrangements!
It really is a lovely suite as a whole, the 4th and 5th movements being my favorites (the 4th has a very romantic, lyrical melody, and the 5th weaves the various themes back to a frenzied climax). Makes me want to get in a car and drive west!
If I've already posted about this one previously in this massive thread, my apologies...now on to getting this mash started!
Topic: Beer drinking and brewing music (Read 109961 times)
