Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue: Different Arrangements & Criticisms

Probably no other serious work written in America has exceeded the impact of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." With Gershwin gone now over 70 years--the "Rhapsody" still gets played all over the world (and on United Airlines ads)--usually in differing arrangements to give the essence of the 25-minute-long piece. It's arguably one of the most adaptable "classical" (or whatever you want to call it) works in all of music. After Herbie Hancock and Lang-Lang performed a highly-truncated, two-piano edition of the work on the Grammy Awards February 10--a lot of people probably wondered how many arrangements can be done of the Rhapsody. Well, numerous editions have been officially published and performed (including Gershwin's original jazz band set-up for the orchestra). Most of those different configurations work, too, while almost always having some cuts if specifically played on TV when anything over five minutes (or actually one minute) is anathema in the eyes and ears of those born into the era of sound bites.