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In June 1925, Gershwin鈥檚 Rhapsody in Blue was the sound of the summer - its sauntering clarinet glissando the sound of the decade.

The work's intoxicating cocktail of romantic lushness and jazz bravado summed up a new nation on the intersection of remembering, dreaming and scheming. Gershwin said he heard the piece as a sort of 鈥渕usical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness.鈥�

Two months after the publication of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Rhapsody in Blue arrived in London at a venue that would have fit Gatsby like a glove. Gershwin performed the piano part himself in the ballroom of the glamorous Savoy Hotel: the first hotel to provide 24-hour room service, the first to host dinner dances, and the first to broadcast its house bands live on the 麻豆社.

Gershwin was almost late for his performance that night because he was so engrossed in conversation with one Mr Marconi about the wonders of radio broadcasting. Marconi would turn up a decade later in one of Gershwin鈥檚 songs: "They told Marconi wireless was a phony / It's the same old cry..."

But Gershwin knew first-hand that wireless was anything but phony. Thanks to a live broadcast from the Savoy, his brave new sound of America reached way beyond the suave crowd at the Savoy that night, right into the homes of thousands of listeners.

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by 麻豆社 Radio 3鈥檚 Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a 麻豆社 season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This 麻豆社 archive recording features soloist Marc-Andre Hamelin with the 麻豆社 Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Thomas Dausgaard.

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