Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

  • Marvin Rosen Classical Music Passion

    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

  • Christmas Classical Music on WRTI & WWFM

    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!

  • Franz Liszt’s Merry Liszt-mas on WPRB

    Franz Liszt’s Merry Liszt-mas on WPRB

    Merry Liszt-mas!

    When you tune in to WPRB this morning, don’t be surprised to find the bulk of the programming devoted to the music of Franz Liszt. Liszt, who had a diabolical reputation both as a pianist and as a ladies’ man, was also quite devout. In fact, he eventually took minor orders and lived in a monastic cell in Rome, where he was known as the Abbé Liszt.

    We’ll be listening to his three-hour oratorio/symphonic poem, “Christus,” celebrating the life and legacy of Christ. However, Liszt being Liszt, there are times when he wholly dispenses with the frankincense and myrrh and piles on the tragic heroism. The “March of the Three Holy Kings” which concludes Part I sounds like it could have been lifted by Richard Wagner (and it may have been) for use in his “Ring” cycle. The music was written contemporaneously with Wagner’s “Das Rheingold.”

    As time allows, we’ll also enjoy Liszt’s “Christmas Tree Suite.” Liszt dedicated the work to his granddaughter, Daniela von Bülow, the daughter of Cosima Liszt and conductor Hans von Bülow. Some of the early movements are reflections on familiar carols, but as the suite progresses, the movements become dreamier and more introspective. The work was first performed on Christmas Day in 1881, the day Daniela’s birthday was always observed, though she was actually born on Christmas Eve.

    “Christus” begins at 7:00 EST. With luck, the “Christmas Tree Suite” will begin at 10:25. Join me at 6:00 for a bit of musical tailgating and some more selections for Christmas.

    Liszt-en all morning, in fact, from 6 to 11:00 on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. They call me the Abbé Normal, on Classic Ross Amico.

  • Beyond the 20 Carols Christmas Music Rediscovered

    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.

  • Yule Revelry on WWFM Celebrate Winter Solstice

    Yule Revelry on WWFM Celebrate Winter Solstice

    Welcome, Yule!

    It’s December 21. Skate on over to WWFM this afternoon, as I mark the year’s shortest day and longest night with abundant revelry, courtesy of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s “Victoria and Merrie England” and John Langstaff’s “The Christmas Revels.” We’ll also make festive with Christopher Rouse’s makeshift midwinter celebration, “Karolju.” Of course, we’ll have music inspired by wintry sights, sounds, and activities. And we’ll follow Arthur Honegger on his musical journey from dark-to-light, “Une cantate de Noël,” or “A Christmas Cantata.”

    Join me, as we drive the cold winter away, this afternoon from 4 to 7:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

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