Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Passover Celebration on WWFM Today

Pesach Sameach! Passover begins at sunset.

Join me this afternoon, when among our featured works will be Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Violin Concerto No. 2, subtitled “The Prophets,” ballet music from Rossini’s “Moses,” and Wojciech Kilar’s “Exodus.”*

We’ll also celebrate the birthdays today of conductor and composer Victor de Sabata, cellist and composer Auguste Franchomme, and pianist and composer Eugen d’Albert.

Join me for an afternoon of unleavened entertainment, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network, and at wwfm.org.

For more Passover music, join me tomorrow, immediately following the noontime concert (probably around 1:40 p.m.), for Paul Dessau’s oratorio “Haggadah shel Pesach.”

April 10, 2017
Song of Songs Solomon’s Love in Music

The Song of Songs. Attributed to King Solomon, this Biblical book contains some of the most ardent poetry ever written. Whether it represents the communion of man and woman, or, as some would have it, something of a more allegorical nature – telling of the relationship, depending upon one’s system of belief, between God and Israel, between God and the Church, or between Christ and the human soul – over the centuries it has inspired some meltingly lovely music.

Since it is customary to read from the Song of Songs as part of the observance of Passover, we’ll devote “The Lost Chord” this week, on the eve of Pesach, to two settings: one by Sir Granville Bantock – selections from his massive, 2 ½ hour oratorio – and one by Lukas Foss – a more intimate song cycle, in which divine and romantic love unite in understated metaphor.

What if I told you your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate? If you fall for that, there’s plenty more where that came from, on “King Solomon’s Lines,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

April 9, 2017
Castelnuovo-Tedesco Rediscovered After Decades

Earlier this week, I posted about the birthday of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, the Jewish Italian composer who was fortunate to make it to America before he could be packed off to a concentration camp.

Things had already been heating up at home for some time, with Castelnuovo-Tedesco being banned from radio and performances of his works being cancelled, well before the passage of Italian racial laws in 1938. He didn’t leave until 1939, when Arturo Toscanini (who was not Jewish, but had had enough of Mussolini by 1933) agreed to sponsor his immigration to the United States.

I always wind up playing Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Violin Concerto No. 2, subtitled “The Prophets,” during Passover. Written for Heifetz in 1931, its three movements are named for the Old Testament prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Elijah. Of course, we hear his guitar pieces – many of them written for Segovia – all the time. But I always wondered what happened to his Cello Concerto.

The Cello Concerto, written for Gregor Piatigorsky, was given its premiere under Toscanini’s direction in 1935. I have read about it, but I have never actually heard it. Now I learn that the reason is because Piatigorsky had exclusive performance rights to the piece during his lifetime, much as Paul Wittgenstein held exclusive performance rights to the works he commissioned (which is why, for instance, a major work by Paul Hindemith, “Klaviermusik mit Orchester,” went unheard until its revival in 2004 – Wittgenstein didn’t like the piece and locked it up in a trunk).

Fascinatingly, the Castelnuovo-Tedesco concerto has reemerged in Texas, to be performed by the Houston Symphony over Easter weekend. Allegedly it will be the first time the work will have been heard since the 1930s. Hear excerpts, with lots of fascinating background, at the Houston Symphony’s website:

http://www.houstonsymphony.org/tickets/production/detail?id=7346&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social+media&utm_campaign=17CLS14&utm_content=17CLS14+FB+Ad+Brinton+Music+Clip+5

How many more of these musical treasures await rediscovery, I wonder, having been jealously guarded by performers who opted not to promote them, or who were given better offers for yet another whirl through that well-worn crowd-pleaser by Dvořák?

April 8, 2017
Ten Commandments Score 60th Anniversary

For the 60th anniversary of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments,” the Intrada label has handed down, like stone tablets from Mount Sinai, a definitive, 6-CD box set of music from the film. The collection includes the complete 2 ½ hour score, three commercial soundtrack releases, and bonus material intriguing enough to curl Charlton Heston’s beard.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll share lovingly remastered selections from the 1960 Dot and 1966 United Artist soundtrack re-recordings, the Pillar of Fire and parting of the Red Sea sequence from the actual film, and rare demos, prepared for Mr. DeMille by the composer, Elmer Bernstein, who will introduce his themes from the piano.

So let it be written, so let it be done! Join me for the definitive “The Ten Commandments,” on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

April 7, 2017
TGIF Classical Music Weekend Starts Here

TGIF! Make the transition to the weekend with music by Joseph Ryelandt, Domenico Dragonetti, Harald Saeverud, and Percy Faith, on their birthdays. In addition, we’ll hear pianists/birthday celebrants Robert Casadesus and Leif Ove Andsnes play Chabrier and Grieg, respectively.

That’s got to be at least two hours, right there.

Then stick around for “Picture Perfect” and a definitive survey of Elmer Bernstein’s music for Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments.” We’ll be sampling from an exhaustive 6-CD set, released on the Intrada label, in honor of the film’s 60th anniversary.

I’ll be there, enjoying the music right along with you, this Friday afternoon at 4:00 EDT. “Picture Perfect” begins at 6, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 7, 2017

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