V. Gryaznov. Rhapsody “Porgy and Bess“ for Piano and Orchestra. To the memory of N. Petrov

First live performance (, Nijniy Novgorod city). Conservatory student orchestra, Eugeny Sheiko, conductor. About the Rhapsody ------------------------ Two-Piano version of this Rhapsody was written for the famous piano duo Nikolay PETROV and Alexander GHINDIN. But N. Petrov had a stroke a couple weeks before the premiere at Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow and died 2 months later... He took very active part in process of creating the Rhapsody, called me almost every week wondering how it was going on, asked about performance details, urged and encouraged me.. His death was a real shock for me. The only thing that I could do was to dedicate the Rhapsody to His Memory. I made an orchestration this summer. Now the Rhapsody has two versions: for Piano and Orchestra like a piano concerto, and version for Piano Duo. ------------------------------- My conception of the Rhapsody was to create a solid piece with its own subject and sense. Gershwin’s opera ends on Porgy left fo