Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Marvin Rosen Classical Music Passion

When there’s music to be shared, Marvin Rosen is not one to be hindered by a lack of sleep. The indefatigable Rosen, who shares his passion with listeners every week on his radio show, Classical Discoveries, sets his alarm for 4 a.m., but his innate enthusiasm often has him up earlier, even on the shortest and coldest of days.

Officially, “Classical Discoveries” can be heard on Wednesdays, from 5:30 to 11 a.m., on WPRB 103.3 FM in Princeton. But it’s not unusual for Rosen to start his broadcast at a time when even roosters might consider hitting the snooze. Recordings heard on “Classical Discoveries” are harvested in large part from his own, massive, personal collection and from private recordings sent to him by composers living all over the world.

Occasionally, his exuberance will spill over into day-long marathons. The next such event, his annual Viva 21st Century-24 Hour Plus-WPRB Broadcast with Marvin Rosen, will begin on Dec. 27 at 1 p.m. Rosen will take to the airwaves for 25 uninterrupted hours, to present music by approximately 100 living composers.

On June 8 at 3 p.m., Rosen will present a live piano recital made up of miniatures by 25 living women composers. The concert will take place at Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College. Response to his request for submissions was so favorable that he plans to present a follow-up recital in April at 1867 Sanctuary at Ewing.

For all his evident enthusiasm for the new and unusual, Rosen has never lost his affection for the standard repertoire. He simply understands that the music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven can be heard anywhere that classical music is played.

His love of Bach earned him an invitation from Choral Arts Philadelphia to host its New Year’s Eve presentation of the “Christmas Oratorio.” The four-hour concert, including all six cantatas, with a break for intermission and refreshments, will take place on Dec. 31, from 4 to 8 p.m., at Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral.

Indeed, Rosen, who is on the piano faculty of Westminster Conservatory of Music, is a busy, busy man. It was a challenge to fit everything into my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/12/classical_music_marvin_rosen_p.html

December 23, 2016
Christmas Classical Music on WRTI & WWFM

Can it already be this close to Christmas? I guess it is. Today will mark my final two live air shifts before the Christmas holiday.

I hope you’ll join me on WRTI in Philadelphia at 90.1 FM and wrti.org, as I’ll be seated under the mistletoe from 10 am. to 2 p.m. Among the works I’ll be presenting will be Antonio Vivaldi’s OTHER “Gloria” (RV 588), one of Robert Russell Bennett’s splashy suites from “The Many Moods of Christmas,” and a complete recording of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.” I’m not sure if there will be any time left over for me to add anything of my own, but hey, any opportunity to actually sit and listen to a complete “Nutcracker” is fine by me.

Then I ride the Polar Express to the Trenton-Princeton area, where I’ll pick my own music, on WWFM The Classical Network at 89.1 FM and wwfm.org, from 4 to 6 p.m. I’ll keep it fairly light today with Leopold Mozart’s “Musical Sleigh-Ride,” in that wacky recording by the Eduard Melkus Ensemble, with all the rowdy dogs and horses, and John Rutter’s work for children’s chorus and harp, “Dancing Day,” kind of a companion piece to Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols.” It’s probably safe to assume there will be some more English music, as well.

Then at 6:00, on WWFM, I’ll be your host for “Picture Perfect,” when the focus will be on music from Christmas television specials that were originally broadcast from the 1950s through the 1980s. I’ll write a little more about it, here, as the time draws nigh.

And don’t forget “The Lost Chord,” my syndicated program of unusual and neglected repertoire. It airs on WWFM on Christmas night, this week at 11 p.m., in order to make room for a broadcast of Handel’s “Messiah” from Trinity Wall Street at 8. On the program will be Hubert Parry’s “Ode on the Nativity” and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ very last work, “The First Nowell.”

Merry Christmas, everyone, and happy listening!

December 23, 2016
Heinrich Schiff Celebrated Cellist Dies at 65

I am very sorry to have to share the news that one of the great cellists of our time has passed. Heinrich Schiff is dead at 65.

I’ll include a little musical remembrance, if I can, just before my sign-off at 2:00 this afternoon, on WRTI 90.1 FM and at wrti.org

http://www.dw.com/en/cellist-heinrich-schiff-dies-age-65/a-36891728

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/the-cellist-and-conductor-heinrich-schiff-has-died

December 23, 2016
Christmas TV Specials Music Spotlight

This week on “Picture Perfect,” at this most special time of the year, the focus will be on Christmas television specials.

Keep an ear open for Howard Blake’s music for “The Snowman” (1982), which spawned his most enduring melody, “Walking in the Air;” selections from Jerry Goldsmith’s score for “The Homecoming: A Christmas Story” (1971), which was actually the pilot for the popular television series “The Waltons;” excerpts from an exceedingly rare soundtrack to a musical version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” (1954), with songs and underscore written by Bernard Herrmann; and finally, a sampler from Vince Guaraldi’s immortal music for “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965).

You don’t need me to tell you that it’s going to be special. Join me for music from Christmas television specials, this Friday evening at 6 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

December 23, 2016
Beyond the 20 Carols Christmas Music Rediscovered

A thousand years of Christmas music, and every year it’s just about reduced to the same old 20 carols.

If, like me, you are frustrated by the countless regurgitations of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” for every conceivable vocal and instrumental combination, plugged in perfunctorily to a well-worn playlist, between Mozart and Dvořák, join me tomorrow morning on WPRB, when we’ll go completely anti-commercial, anti-ADD, and completely balls-out Christmas.

Our featured work will be Franz Liszt’s “Christus,” three hours of hardcore Jesus music, of which only the first 70 minutes or so deal with the Christmas story. In fact, Part III contains a 40-minute setting of the “Stabat Mater dolorosa.” You won’t hear that at the shopping mall.

Okay, so maybe it’s not for everyone, but the music does have its rewards. Forget “Jingle Bell Rock.” Brew yourself something strong, send your regrets to the office “holiday party,” if you can, and seclude your wittily antlered self in a quiet place with no distractions to marvel at this massive oratorio-cum-symphonic poem.

Due to the length of this extraordinary work (almost exactly three hours, played uninterrupted), it will begin in the 7:00 hour. That will insure that the piece will have run its course by the time Will Constantine Jr. rolls in at 11:00 for “Blues, Bop and Beyond.”

If you want jolly, call up Rankin-Bass. For the rest of you, join me tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Santa’s not the only one who’s got a little Liszt, on Classic Ross Amico.

December 22, 2016

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS