Imagine an orchestra assembled for a performance of Rhapsody in Blue. The musicians are ready. The conductor raises his baton. But the piano bench is empty.
And then the piano begins to play.
The pianist is George Gershwin. And he has been dead for decades.
Tonight on Nocturne Nightflight, we uncover one of the most remarkable stories in American music: how Gershwin’s performances were captured on perforated paper rolls, preserved through an ingenious system of pneumatic machinery, and brought back to life long after the composer was gone.
From the bustling music shops of Tin Pan Alley to the revolutionary Duo-Art reproducing piano, from the premiere of Rhapsody in Blue to the extraordinary 1976 orchestral recording that reunited Gershwin with a living ensemble, this is a journey through music, invention, and the strange persistence of human genius.
We’ll explore the technology that made it possible, the musicians who brought these performances back to life, and a fascinating question: When a piano plays a roll recorded by Gershwin himself, whose hands are we really hearing?
It’s a story of engineering and artistry, of vanished machines and unforgettable melodies—and of a composer who, in a very real sense, never stopped playing.
Tonight’s Nocturne Nightflight is sponsored by Chesterton Radio listeners. Your subscriptions and contributions make this independent station and its original programming possible. If you enjoy these journeys through music, history, and imagination, please consider supporting us.
Subscribe and support: https://ChestertonRadio.com/subscribe
Listen to The Open Door: Our 24-hour Chesterton Radio live stream brings you classic radio, music, drama, and discoveries around the clock.
https://Live.ChestertonRadio.com
Visit the Chesterton Radio Mercantile: Explore the Chesterton Radio store and help support the station.
https://Shop.ChestertonRadio.com
Chesterton Radio — Keeping the Golden Age of Radio Alive.
Listen to the original Duo-Art Gershwin Piano Rolls here:
