Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Irish Music on The Lost Chord for St Patricks Day

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we anticipate St. Patrick’s Day, with two contrasting works with ties to the Emerald Isle.

John Kinsella was born in Dublin in 1932. He combined composition with a career in music administration until 1988, when he left his position as Head of Music at RTE, Ireland’s national broadcasting organization.

As a composer, he was influenced by contemporary trends in the European avant-garde, until 1977. Then, following the completion of his String Quartet No. 3, he wrote nothing for a period of 18 months. He emerged from this self-imposed silence a renewed artist, crafting wholly tonal works of great beauty and integrity. Since then, he has completed eleven symphonies, a second violin concerto, a cello concerto, a fourth string quartet, and various other works.

Kinsella’s Symphony No. 3 was composed in 1989-1990. The work falls into two substantial movements, framed by a brief Prologue and Epilogue, and separated by an Intermezzo, all of which return to material stated in the symphony’s opening bars. The movements are performed without break.

Although it is not a programmatic work, the composer dedicated the symphony, with gratitude, to his parents. He intended the piece as a personal expression of certain aspects of the joy of life. Hence, the subtitle, “Joie de vivre.”

More overtly folk-inflected is “Laments and Dances from the Irish,” after melodies by Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738). Philadelphia-born composer Arnold Black was afflicted with cerebral palsy from birth, resulting in limited mobility on his right side. Yet he managed to become a master of the violin. So successful was he on his instrument that following graduation from the Juilliard School, he was hired as assistant concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony, and ultimately concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC.

Black’s “Laments and Dances” was commissioned by the Newman and Oltman Guitar Duo. Michael Newman and Laura Oltman reside along the Delaware River in Warren County, NJ. Together or between them, they have taught or been guitarists-in-residence at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, Princeton University, The College of New Jersey, and Lafayette College in Easton, PA. They are also directors of the Raritan River Music Festival, held in historic venues in Central Jersey throughout the month of May. The duo is joined in this recording by the Turtle Island String Quartet.

Pour yourself a pint of stout and find your bliss. We laugh and weep along with the Irish, on “Airs from Erin,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

March 15, 2025
Irish Coffee & Celtic Music for St Patricks Day

This morning on “Sweetness and Light,” I’ll be hoisting an Irish coffee for St. Patrick’s Day.

Join me for a stirabout of Celtic-inflected works by Henry Cowell, Ina Boyle, Ludwig van Beethoven, Peter Hope, Ignaz Moscheles, A.J. Potter, and Romeo Cascarino. I know, not all of these composers are Irish, but isn’t everyone Irish on St. Patrick’s Day?

Philadelphia composer Romeo Cascarino will be represented by a luscious arrangement of “Danny Boy,” recently released as a digital download, alongside his transporting song cycle “Pathways of Love.”

Your pot of gold is but a click away, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it, wherever you are, at the link.

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

March 15, 2025
Irish Movie Music The Quiet Man and More

Bad luck for Victor McLaglen. Still three days away, but John Wayne will pound his face so hard that he’ll still be spitting teeth on St. Patrick’s Day.

McLaglen gets his lathering in the epic climax of John Ford’s “The Quiet Man.” Victor Young’s score will be one of the highlights this week, on “Picture Perfect,” which will be devoted to films with Irish settings and Irish themes.

“The Luck of the Irish” (1948) stars Tyrone Power as an American journalist who travels to Ireland, where he gets in touch with his roots – and a full-size leprechaun, played by Cecil Kellaway.

No “Darby O’Gill”-style special effects here. Kellaway is just some guy in a leprechaun hat. When Power comments, “Say, aren’t you rather large for a leprechaun?,” Kellaway responds, “That’s a page of me family history I’d rather we not go into.” It was hoped that Barry Fitzgerald would have taken the role – and how perfect would that have been? – but he couldn’t be secured. In the event, Kellaway was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The music is by the English-born Cyril J. Mockridge, who was Alfred Newman’s assistant at 20th Century Fox. Mockridge is probably best known for his score to “Miracle on 34th Street.” “The Luck of the Irish” is full of Celtic-style folk melodies and some shimmering leprechaun music, but why it quotes “Greensleeves” is anybody’s guess. Probably at the request of a producer. (Green = Irish, right?)

John Williams wrote a gorgeous, melancholy score for “Angela’s Ashes” (1999), adapted from Frank McCourt’s bestselling memoir. It’s refreshing to hear Williams give free rein to his lyrical side, beyond the context of lightsabers, magic wands and rampaging dinosaurs. The recording we’ll hear is from the difficult-to-acquire international release. The version issued stateside was marred by dialogue from the film. (Why do they do that?)

You can’t have an hour of Irish film music without including something with The Chieftains. “Circle of Friends” (1995) is based on the novel by Maeve Binchy, about three childhood friends, who reunite in college, and their adventures with the young men they find there. The film stars Minnie Driver, Chris O’Donnell, Alan Cumming and Colin Firth. Michael Kamen wrote the score, but it’s The Chieftains, obviously, that lend it an air of authenticity.

Finally, Victor Young’s palette is all green in “The Quiet Man” (1952). John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, Ward Bond, and a Mulligan stew of American and Irish character actors flesh out what must be John Ford’s most delightful film. It earned him his fourth Academy Award for Best Director, and the film itself was nominated for Best Picture.

The alternately romantic and boisterous, folk-inflected score perfectly complements Ford’s tone of sustained whimsy, for what is essentially a love story unfolding in the face of cultural differences. Also the face of Victor McLaglen.

Shamrocks will shake amidst the blarney rubble, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

March 14, 2025
Bryn Mawr Book Sale Haul Classical Music Finds

Here’s my haul for this year’s Bryn Mawr Book Sale (held not in Bryn Mawr, but at the Stuart Country Day School in Princeton). There used to be a lot of classical CDs on offer. For some reason, they no long seem to accept them as donations, even though there are still plenty of crappy DVDs. Be that as it may, the real draw is the books.

Unfortunately, as a former book dealer, my consumption is somewhat dulled, as I’ve seen and acquired so much over the years. (Chain stores are totally ruined for me.) I have a storage locker full of collectible material I need to sort through and get rid of, if anyone is even interested anymore. Still, in this regressive age, it is cheering to see so many people at a book sale milling about with filled shopping bags.

After two humdrum years with no CDs and little else to entice me, you can imagine my excitement to find a table of honest-to-goodness classical music books. And not just Gilbert & Sullivan anthologies and the same three to five books you see everywhere. (I’m looking at you, Arthur Rubinstein’s autobiography.)

At first, I wandered lonely as a cloud, gazing through a fog at a table full of books on popular music. A few boxes of sheet music barely registered. Then, voilà (not to be confused with viola) – suddenly I was on the hook for Beethoven, Mozart, Schoenberg, Webern, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, and even Offenbach. Of particular interest is a paperback on Sibelius from 1952 – when the composer was still alive – full of fun photos.

Some of these titles were from the collection of Princeton University librarian Peter Cziffra (his name is stamped on the bottom edges). Amusingly, in the general biographies section, I found a book on Alban Berg, with “BERG” scrawled in magic marker along the top edge. Either Mr. Cziffra had the book stored with that edge facing out, or he was just sitting at his desk at some point with nothing to do.

I also bought two books that have nothing to do with music. Well, I suppose one of them does, tangentially, as George Barrow’s “The Romany Rye” is a sequel to “Lavengro,” said to be one of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ favorite books.

The other is by Henry Kingsley, the brother of Charles Kingsley (author of that Victorian children’s classic, “The Water-Babies”). I’d never heard of Henry and the back cover didn’t reveal much, but I loved the title – “Ravenshoe.” And I just know any company that went by the name Bison Books had to have reissued it as a labor of love. This is one of those occasions when it definitely came in handy to have a smart phone, as I was able to find out a little more about Henry and his novel, which apparently culminates in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Sign me up!

I wonder how many of these I’ll actually read before I die. In my field, though, at least the music books are good reference.

Established in 1931, the Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Book Sale bills itself as the longest-running and largest sale of its kind on the East Coast. Proceeds go to scholarships for local students attending Bryn Mawr and Wellesley Colleges. The cause is all well and good, but I’d contribute more if they brought back the CDs.

This year’s sale runs through weekend (open until 8:00 tonight, 5:00 on Saturday, and 2:00 on Sunday).

The Annual Sale

March 14, 2025
Telemann Pi Day Pie Baroque Celebration

How to conflate Telemann’s birthday and Pi Day? Why, get yourself some pie and enjoy Telemann’s “Tafelmusik,” of course. This courtly table music can run to at least four hours, complete. That’s plenty of time to bake from scratch. Brew the coffee strong and go for Baroque.

Happy birthday, Telemann!

March 14, 2025

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