I can understand why this piece was received with less than open ears.
Rhapsody in Blue was one of the first times jazz was yanked up to the
level of the concert stage, and that is why it was performed at
Carnegie Hall.  But it was also the first time, in the eyes of many
elite, that classical music was yanked "down" to the level of jazz.

To this day there are remnants of a class structure with classical and
jazz being at opposite ends of the spectrum.  We in mechanical music,
however, sometimes do not understand that, because we have rolls from
all styles of music and usually find our favorites from all of them.

The Rhapsody was originally hated by both groups.  The classical music
lovers and performers felt badly put upon by this low-classe jazz thing
and turned up their noses.  The jazz lovers and performers felt badly
put upon by those hoity-toity classical music snobs and they turned up
their noses.

Gershwin was about the only man who could pull off this whole new idea
of bringing jazz to the classical folk.  He had a very good classical
technique, which means he had no trouble playing the most difficult of
piano works without slowing down or embarrassing himself.  He was a
classically trained pianist who loved jazz and wished to merge his two
favorite types of music.

He made a name for himself as a performer, composer of piano music, and
Broadway shows.  If only he had lived a complete life (he died at about
39) there is no telling how far he could have taken this.  He devoted
the first decade and a half of his career becoming tops in his field.
His great ambition was to compose classical music with a jazz twist.
Check out his folk opera, "Porgy and Bess," his piano works, serenades,
the Concerto in F.

The reason he actually wrote the Rhapsody in 21 days was not for Paul
Whiteman but because it would get the classical folk to sit up and
listen to jazz for once.  He was tired of them turning up their noses
at him.  He loved classical music and he wasn't a snob, and it was jazz
that de-snobbified him.  His jazz friends were just as snobby about
classical music.  So he wanted to expand the horizons of everyone.

I think he did just that.

D. L. Bullock    Piano World    St. Louis