Over the Rainbow: The Musical Heart of HArold Arlen

Harold Arlen (1905-86) was one of the greatest of American songwriters. The son of an immigrant cantor, he created some of most powerful and enduring popular songs of the twentieth century, classics such as “Stormy Weather,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” and, above all, “Over the Rainbow” from the 1939 MGM classic The Wizard of Oz, arguably the most beloved popular song of all time.

This virtuoso piano-vocal performance traces his entirety of Arlen’s songwriting career from its beginnings in the 1930s to its twilight more than 30 years later and shows how he transformed the vernacular styles of his day, especially jazz and blues, into a highly personal and uniquely evocative idiom.

SAMPLE PROGRAM: (ALL SONGS BY ARLEN, LYRICISTS IN PARENTHESES)

“Get Happy” (The Nine-Fifteen Revue, 1930, Ted Koehler)
“Stormy Weather” (The Cotton Club Revue, 1933, Ted Koehler)
“Paper Moon” (The Great Magoo, 1932, Yip Harburg, Billy Rose)
“Over the Rainbow” (The Wizard of Oz, 1938, Yip Harburg)
“Lydia the Tattooed Lady” (At the Circus, 1939, Yip Harburg)
“Come Rain or Come Shine” – (St. Louis Woman, 1946, Johnny Mercer)
“I Had a Love Once” (1973)
“Accentuate the Positive” (Here Come the Waves, 1944, Johnny Mercer)