Recitals

All of Robert Wyatt's recitals are presented in a narrative performance format. Programs take approximately 2 hours with intermission. A tuned grand piano is required. Select Contact for more information or to book a performance.

• RIALTO RIPPLES
  Gershwin’s first published piano piece was co-written by Will Donaldson, a fellow Tin Pan Alley “song-plugger.”
• 2 UNPUBLISHED PIANO PIECES Inspired by the premiere of the Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin penned a series of pieces which might have been sketches for a cycle of preludes.
• THREE-QUARTER BLUES Also known as the “Irish Waltz,” this might have been the piece that Gershwin “pulled out of his pocket" to entice interesting female acquaintances.
• GEORGE GERSHWIN'S SONGBOOK Published by Simon and Schuster in 1932, the eighteen improvisations are masterworks of improvisational genius.
• 6 PIANO PRELUDES Although Gershwin published three piano preludes in 1927, he wrote at least seven. Robert Wyatt discovered two “Novelettes” in 1987, combining them with a third unpublished piece, “Sleepless Night,” and the well-known published works.
• RHAPSODY IN BLUE The solo version of the composition that made George Gershwin an American icon on February 12, 1924.
  
  

• MAPLE LEAF RAG Although Scott Joplin sold a few ragtime pieces prior to 1899, it was the Maple Leaf Rag which brought him instant fame and fortune.
• BETHENA—A CONCERT WALTZ Joplin’s finest waltz, Bethena is a fully syncopated ragtime waltz with five different themes, each with a separate tonality.
• THE ENTERTAINER Immortalized in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, this ragtime march was Joplin’s most successful product from the banner year 1902.
• SOLACE Joplin’s move to New York City in 1907 heralded new compositional styles, readily evidenced in the seductive tango-serenade Solace, his only venture into that dance form.
• SUNFLOWER SLOW DRAG A teacher as well as a composer/player, Joplin sometimes partnered with his most successful students, in this rag with Scott Hayden.
• RIALTO RIPPLES Gershwin’s first published piano piece was co-written by Will Donaldson, a fellow Tin Pan Alley “song-plugger.”
• 3 PRELUDES FOR PIANO The three piano preludes, Gershwin’s only published concert pieces for solo piano, are brilliant examples of the jazz idiom applied to classical form.
• “SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME” A zesty piano transcription of Gershwin’s piano roll recording of a tune eventually scored as a ballad for Gertrude Lawrence in the show Oh, Kay!
• RHAPSODY IN BLUE The solo version of the composition that made George Gershwin an American icon on February 12, 1924.
  
  

• Traditional repertoire is performed from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and 20th Century periods. Sample programs are furnished upon request.