I absolutely looove that song lol I first heard it on that united airlines commercial.....
Does anyone know where I can get the sheet music from?

Almost any large sheet music store will have it in stock. If you don't live near one, then pretty much any online sheetmusic store will be able to get it for you.

Second Kreisler on this. You need to decide which one you like to get though. It comes in Solo, concerto, 4-hands, two-piano sheets. Plus when you go to a music shop you will see simplified solo versions by different transcribers at various technical levels. You know your skill level and get the one that fits you.

Isn't there a sticky about sheet music sites?

I have a feeling Gershwin died after the cut off date to make the first publications public domain.

(I'm listening to his Piano Concerto now as a matter of fact, such a lovely 2nd movement)

I've just been listening to Marcus Roberts' superb take on Rhapsody in Blue--he spins off some really nifty jazz improvs during the piece. It's a terrific recording. Also comes on a disc with James P. Johnson's Yamekraw and the I Got Rhythm variations (by Gershwin also).

Wasn't Rhapsody originally written for piano solo?

The original was for Gershwin at the piano with Paul Whiteman's Big Band.

Actually, the original was the 4 hands version. One of the parts is the actual part the piano would play along with orchestra, and the other contains the harmonic information that Ferde Groffe derived the orchestration from.

Rob Yale

Have you seen the DVD "A Gershwin Night"? It's the Berlin Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa with the Marcus Roberts trio playing Roberts' arrangements of Rhapsody in Blue and the Piano Concerto, plus other works (including An American in Paris). Filmed at the Berlin Waldebuhne, it's a fantastic DVD. I didn't think it would work, but the arrangement of the Concerto (for orchestra and jazz trio) is a brilliant success.

There is a superb Rhapsody played by Wayne Marshall. Coupled with an equally exhilirating Concerto.

The Labeque sisters have recorded the piano duet versions, and they sound good, too...

It is interesting to me that Victor Herbert, then the most famous American composer of musical plays, offered Gershwin some advice about one of the sections of the Rhapsody, and Gershwin made some revisions based on that advice.

It is also interesting to me that Ferde Grofe orchestrated the Rhapsody for Paul Whiteman's band, because Whiteman and Grofe were promoters of what became known as symphonic jazz, Gershwin's Rhapsody marking the beginning of that style of music. Other jazzy piano pieces were orchestrated by Grofe, including several by Eastwood Lane. Grofe would eventually become famous for his "Grand Canyon Suite".

There were many big wigs in music at that first orchestrated performance of the Rhapsody. I wish it could have been videotaped! It was an important moment in musical history.