Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Remembering Musicians Lost in 2016 on WPRB

Far too many great musicians traded in their instruments for the harp last year. This morning on WPRB, we’ll remember some of those we lost in 2016.

In the second of two programs, we’ll celebrate the artistry of composers Leslie Bassett, Pierre Boulez, Marcel Farago, Ursula Mamlok, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Steven Stucky, conductors Gilbert Kaplan, Louis Lane and Otto-Werner Mueller, cellists Jules Eskin and Heinrich Schiff, oboist Neil Black, countertenor Russell Oberlin, harmonica player Toots Thielemans, choral director Gregg Smith, and the 64 members of the Red Army Choir.

We remember those who have moved on to that great orchestra in the sky, this morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Even in the hereafter, we’re stuck in the third tier, on Classic Ross Amico.

January 5, 2017
Georges Prêtre Renowned Conductor Dies at 92

Even as I am in the process of honoring the musicians we lost in 2016 on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com, I learn of the first major musical loss of the new year. The conductor Georges Prêtre has died.

Prêtre studied under André Cluytens, among others, at the Paris Conservatory. He made his conducting debut in Marseilles in 1946. He was director of the Opéra-Comique in Paris from 1955-1959. There, he gave the premiere of “La voix humaine” by Francis Poulenc, a composer with whom he would become closely associated. He went on to conduct at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and La Scala, Milan.

He was a regular at the Lyric Opera of Chicago from 1959-1971. He was music director of the Paris Opera for the 1970-71 season. He later became principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony, from 1986-1991.

Prêtre was invited to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic in its popular New Year’s Day concert twice, in 2008 and 2010. To date, he is the only French conductor to have done so.

Among his other notable achievements, he conducted the world premiere of Joseph Jongen’s “Symphonie Concertante for Organ and Orchestra,” with Virgil Fox and the Paris Opera Orchestra, in 1959.

Prêtre was 92 years-old. It is with regret that I bid him adieu.

January 5, 2017
Remembering Musicians Lost in 2016

Several days into 2017, and we can safely pause to catch our breath, knowing that the Reaper has completed his harvest for the last calendar year. Tomorrow morning on WPRB, once again we’ll look back over the appalling number of artists we lost in 2016.

Last week, with limited time at our disposal, we were able to honor composers Inocente Carreño, Karel Husa, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Arne Running, conductors Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Sir Neville Marriner, pianist Zoltán Kocsis, flutist Aurèle Nicolet, guitarist Alirio Diaz, and harpsichordist Temple Painter.

Tomorrow, we’ll pick up the thread, hopefully celebrating the careers and contributions of composers Leslie Bassett, Pierre Boulez, Marcel Farago, Ursula Mamlok, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Steven Stucky, conductors Gilbert Kaplan, Louis Lane and Otto-Werner Mueller, cellists Jules Eskin and Heinrich Schiff, oboist Neil Black, countertenor Russell Oberlin, harmonica player Toots Thielemans, choral director Gregg Smith, and the 64 members of the Red Army Choir.

Thankfully, samples of their talents have been documented on recordings. We’ll reap the rewards, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wwfm.org. Time and tide wait for no man, on Classic Ross Amico.

January 5, 2017
Josef Suk: Tragedy and Triumph

If you think your life sucks, consider that of Josef Suk.

Suk (1874-1935) was the pupil and eventual son-in-law of Antonin Dvořák. Though he experienced a degree of anxiety before breaking to his mentor the news of his love for Dvořák’s beautiful daughter Otilie – the struggle and romance of which he channeled into his fairy tale suite, “Pohádka” – Dvořák, who respected Suk mightily, joyfully consented to their union. So everyone lived happily ever after, right?

Unfortunately, happily ever after didn’t last very long. Over a span of 14 months, when the composer was in his early 30s, he lost both his mentor and his wife. The double-blow led to a new intensity in Suk’s work, as exemplified by the dark exploration of his “Asrael Symphony” (Azrael is the Angel of Death). Suk’s idiom, which had been steeped in the Czech nationalism of his teacher, took on a new morbidity so that he came to be regarded as one of the leading composers of Czech modernism. Austrian composers Gustav Mahler and Alban Berg began to take notice of his work. We’ll content ourselves with some of his happier stuff.

Suk was a founding member of the Czech Quartet. His grandson was the famous violinist who shared his name.

I hope you’ll join me today, between 4 and 7 p.m. EST, as we celebrate the birthday anniversaries of Josef Suk and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. We’ll try not to be too morbid about it, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

PHOTOS: Life Suks (Otilie, left, and Josef Suk)

January 4, 2017
Bach Christmas Oratorio Philadelphia Broadcast

Here I am introducing a broadcast of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in a New Year’s Eve performance by Choral Arts Philadelphia from Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral. With me are, left to right, Clark Conner of John C. Baker Recordings, and WWFM colleagues Rachel Katz and Alice Weiss. It was a such a pleasure to attend the historically-informed performance and to meet CAP’s Inna Lobanova-Heasley, Matthew Glandorf, and James Reese.

January 3, 2017

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