All summer long we boys
dreamed ’bout circus joys!
Down Main Street comes the band,
Oh! “Ain’t it a grand and glorious noise!”

We take our inspiration from Charles Ives’ “The Circus Band” this week, with a program of musical evocations of the Big Top.

We’ll hear works like Douglas Moore’s “The Pageant of P.T. Barnum,” Nino Rota’s “La Strada Ballet” and Rodion Shchedrin’s “Old Russian Circus Music.” We’ll also have snappy circus favorites like Julius Fucik’s “Entry of the Gladiators,” Juventino Rosas’ “Over the Waves” (a.k.a. the trapeze music), and Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance,” with perhaps even a circus-oriented film score or two.

Is this kind of thing really sustainable for FIVE HOURS??? Tune in tomorrow to WPRB 103.3 FM or online at wprb.com, from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, to find out. We’ll keep the plates spinning on Classic Ross Amico.