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I note that the original piano versions of Rhapsody in Blue are out of copyright, but the orchestration by Ferde Grofé in still in copyright in the EU etc.

Would new arrangements for orchestra, NOT based on Grofe's score, be legal. I assume that they would, and be the copyright of the new arranger.

The piece is still Non-PD USA only.

If you want to do the orchestral setting of this piece, you would have to totally discard Grofe's setting entirely if you were to typeset it since his setting is under copyright still and start from scratch. Pretty much would have to take the 2 piano score and set it from their.

Just to back up the claim even further, probably you should mention in the score or on the misc. notes that this is not based off Grofe's setting at all.

Understood.

I do a lot of arrangements, and was tentatively asked about this piece. I have started to re-engrave the piano duo version with a view to orchestrating it from there. This was always my intention. I got about half way through before I had to break off to complete other work.

I don't have a copy of Grofé's score, nor do I intend to get one. But I am tempted to use a clarinet for the opening phrase, nothing else could do it justice. I could leave it on the piano...

A reminder that as of January 1, 2020, the original music for RHAPSODY IN BLUE became public domain in the US.

For Rhapsody in Blue's IMSLP entry it states at the top of the page

Any of the orchestrations by Ferde Grofé (d.1972) cannot be uploaded here as they are all under copyright worldwide

I can understand that Grofé's 1942 orchestration for full orchestra of Rhapsody in Blue remains under copyright, but Wikipedia suggests he made 3 orchestrations in total the first of which would have been created when the Paul Whiteman orchestra premiered Rhapsody in Blue on February 12, 1924.

I don't know if Grofé's original 1924 orchestration exists as an available written score, but if it were to exist surely in the USA that original 1924 orchestration would no longer be covered by copyright?

As a similar example, I see that on IMSLP Paul Whiteman's composition Wonderful One written with Ferde Grofé is PD in the USA, so I would be hopeful that a score of the 1924 orchestration of Rhapsody in Blue by Grofé would therefore be recognised as PD in the USA, and as Grofé died in 1972 I would speculate that a 1924 orchestration of Rhapsody in Blue would then also be PD in Canada from 1st January 2023.

Are the speculations I've made above correct? If so my follow up question would be: Does the score for Grofé's 1924 orchestration of Rhapsody in Blue already exist?

No if you read this, none of his orchestrations are PD-USA until 2038 (except for the theater orchestration from 1927 that will be PD-USA in 2023). However, Canada is no longer going to be Life + 50 starting in 2023, they are going to be Life + 70 now and have decided any contributor who died 1972 and later will be under copyright until 2043 now.