So, one afternoon, I was looking for something to put on. I was going through the various streaming platforms and found Fantasia. And for all of my Disney love, I'd never actually seen it before. Put it on and really liked it. Then, I knew they had made a new Fantasia in 2000, and I didn't want to do a double feature, but I decided to look up the musical pieces that film used. When I saw George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" was used in the piece, and immediately thought "I must listen to this now."
Since there are so many different performances and versions of this piece, I started looking for the one that speaks to me the most, and landed on Leonard Bernstein and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. A lot of the versions I had listened to before I landed on Bernstein's were primarily by jazz bands, which were all great, but, when I got to Bernstein, it was so grand. And also on Bernstein's album is Gershwin's "An American in Paris" with the New York Philharmonic, which I never thought to listen to on its own because I always think of the dream ballet from the film. Listening to that divorced from the dance, it's a whole new experience with something I know so well. "An American in Paris" is also starting to become a piece that I go to.
I don't really listen to a lot of instrumental, symphonic music a lot. I love that kind of music, but it's not something that is in constant rotation for me. It's a rare event that I sit or lie down and put it on. Both "Rhapsody in Blue" and "American in Paris" have been great because they force me to focus on the music when I listen, and they let me relax into it. And honestly, I really need that right now.