George Gershwin‘s song suite for violin, jazz trio and symphony orchestra brings together five of his most iconic songs based on his brother Ira’s lyrics. Fascinating Rhythm is among the composer’s earliest opuses. After taking up music at the age of 10, he dropped out of school at 15 and devoted himself to playing and composition. His first success came in 1919, and Fascinating Rhythm was written in 1924 as part of the Broadway musical Lady Be Good. That same year, Gershwin had already completed Rhapsody in Blue. Soon after thar, he wrote An American in Paris, and in the 1930s he completed the opera Porgy and Bess. His collaboration with his brother Ira Gershwin, who wrote dozens of songs, was remarkable. After the composer’s sudden death in 1937, Ira suspended his work for three years and rejected collaborations with other composers.

Summertime is one of Gershwin’s most beautiful songs and one of the most famous arias from the Porgy and Bess opera composed in 1934-1935. It is still considered the best American opera. It blends jazz and various song styles from the United States. Gershwin began composing the song in December 1933 with the idea of writing a spiritual. In the context of the opera, the song is repeated four times.

In 1927, Gershwin created S’ Wonderful, featured in his Broadway musical Funny Face. It was popular and repeatedly performed by jazz musicians in dozens of arrangements.

The man I love was completed in 1924 for the musical comedy Lady Be Good, then in 1927 was transferred to Strike Up the Band. It exists in dozens of arrangements both authored and by other artists.

 I Got Rhythm was published in 1930 as part of the musical Girl Crazy. It has become a symbol of the singing. In 1934 the composer wrote Variations for Piano and Orchestra based on it. There is some doubt about the authorship of the song theme: a similarity of the opening motif to a melody from the third movement of a symphony by William Grant Still, a musician in Shuffle Along, has been noted. In 1987 Still’s daughter made a written accusation of appropriation by Gershwin.