You're A Grand Old Rag: The Music of George M. Cohan

You're A Grand Old Rag: The Music of George M. Cohan
- This recording presents a fresh and compelling look at the music of Cohan using original period orchestrations (most of which have never before been recorded), played with authentic style on vintage instruments.
Historians have long viewed George M. Cohan as one of the most important figures in the evolution of the American musical theater. Yet his successes as a performer and impresario have greatly overshadowed his equally impressive influence as a composer of some of this country's most popular music; to date, little research has been presented regarding Cohan's work as a composer and lyricist. His songs such as "Over There," "You're A Grand Old Rag," and "Give My Regards to Broadway" are still so widely known that there is a general assumption that Cohan's artistic output and cultural significance has been thoroughly documented. But it has not. While his Broadway contemporaries stuck with the formulas of European operetta, Cohan blazed the path for modern American musical comedy using syncopation to advance his stories. His raggy tunes and slangy lyrics injected a new sense of vitality, brashness, and informality to the American stage, creating a stylistic model adopted (and amplified) by later "Golden Age" figures such as Kern and Gershwin. This recording presents a fresh and compelling look at the music of Cohan using original period orchestrations (most of which have never before been recorded), played with authentic style on vintage instruments. Its intent is to sweep away the commonly held (and largely incorrect) "perceptions" of Cohan's work by presenting it exactly as his contemporaries first heard in the early 1900s. The program comprises a mixture of songs: "That Haunting Melody," "The Yankee Doodle Dandy," "Give My Regards to Broadway," "Eyes of Youth," "Harrigan," and "Over There,"; and selected instrumentals: "Geo. M. Cohan's Rag," "You're a Grand Old Rag," "There's Only One Little Girl for Me," "Popularity"; and the overtures to The Talk of New York, The Man Who Owns Broadway, and Little Nellie Kelly. Included is a forty page booklet with history, analysis, photos, and newly surfaced first-hand accounts by Cohan's orchestrator and conductor, Mayhew Lake.
Country USA
Manufacturer New World Records
Binding Audio CD
ItemPartNumber SG_B001CE53L4_US
ReleaseDate 2008-11-11
UnitCount 1
Format Import
UPCs 093228068525
EANs 0093228068525

Country	USA
Manufacturer	New World Records
Binding	Audio CD
ItemPartNumber	SG_B001CE53L4_US
ReleaseDate	2008-11-11
UnitCount	1
Format	Import
UPCs	093228068525
EANs	0093228068525

You're A Grand Old Rag: The Music of George M. Cohan

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