Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Meeting Rautavaara A Musical Memory

I had the rare opportunity to actually meet Einojuhani Rautavaara once, back in the year 2000. He was in Philadelphia for the first performance of his Symphony No. 8, “The Journey.” By purest chance, I had struck up a friendship with Anssi Blomstedt, a documentary filmmaker then living in Philadelphia, who is the youngest grandchild of Jean Sibelius. He had simply wandered into my bookstore one day, as I was playing a CD of Robert Kajanus conducting his grandfather’s Symphony No. 3. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world…

Anyway, I got Anssi into a rehearsal of Simon Rattle conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5. The ebullient Rattle was overjoyed to meet him. The encounter happened to coincide with an interview Rattle was doing backstage with somebody from Vanity Fair, I think, and somewhere there is a photograph of the future Sir Simon planting a kiss on Anssi’s forehead.

One good turn deserves another, and when Rautavaara came to town, Anssi took me backstage at the Academy of Music to introduce me to him. The venerable composer was friendly and obviously amenable to a photograph. He also was kind enough to sign my Naxos CD of his Symphony No. 3, Piano Concerto No. 1, and Concerto for Birds and Orchestra, “Cantus Arcticus.” I wonder what he thought of this peculiar, 33 year-old “fan.”

Rautavaara died on July 27 at the age of 87. Join me this morning as we celebrate the late Finnish master with FIVE HOURS of his music, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. One needs plenty of time in order even to say “Einojuhani Rautavaara.” Mostly we’ll let the music do the talking, on Classic Ross Amico.

August 11, 2016
Remembering Rautavaara’s Symphony No. 8 on WPRB

Right now on WPRB, we’re listening to the final symphony of the great Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara – the Symphony No. 8, subtitled “The Journey” – commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was given its first performance at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, under the direction of Wolfgang Sawallisch, in the year 2000.

Though Rautavaara would live another 16 years, he would compose no more symphonies. He suffered an aortic dissection in 2004, which put him in intensive care for half a year. He spent most of his final decade in frail health, though he continued to compose prolifically.

We are honoring Rautavaara, who died on July 27 at the age of 87, with FIVE HOURS of his music. Coming up in the 9:00 hour, we’ll hear his large-scale liturgical work, “Vigilia,” a mystical creation that grew out of childhood memories of a visit to an island monastery. Tune in if only to catch that basso-profondo!

It’s all Rautavaara until 11:00 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

August 11, 2016
Glazunov’s Birthday & Prince Igor’s Legacy

Today is the birthday of Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936), a prodigious musician whose talent unfortunately was all too often compromised by drink. It was Glazunov the conductor who, under the influence, derailed the first performance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1.

On a more positive note, he accomplished minor miracles in the completion of Alexander Borodin’s magnum opus, the opera “Prince Igor.” The oft-told story is that Glazunov jotted the overture down from memory, having heard Borodin play through it once at the piano. By Glazunov’s own admission, the feat wasn’t quite as impressive as all that – he had found a few fragmentary sketches Borodin left behind and simply allowed his imagination to vault off of those, honoring Borodin’s intended structure. Still, it was Glazunov who did the heavy lifting, and if not for him and Rimsky-Korsakov, “Prince Igor” would have never become the icon of Russian music that it has.

Earlier in the hour, we heard the overture in Glazunov’s completion and orchestration of the work. We also had a chance to listen to music by Glazunov’s star pupil, Dmitri Shostakovich – his Concertino for 2 Pianos, written for performance by Shostakovich and his son. Right now we’re enjoying Glazunov’s lovely and languid Symphony No. 4, in a recording with Gennadi Rozhdestvensky conducting.

In the 5:00 hour, we’ll be celebrating the birthday of American composer Douglas Moore (1893-1969) with selections from his opera, “The Ballad of Baby Doe,” with Beverly Sills in the title role, and his delightful suite, “The Pageant of P.T. Barnum” in a classic recording conducted by Howard Hanson.

The 6:00 hour will be all-Brazilian, including a piece for string orchestra by Clarice Assad, the daughter of guitarist Sergio Assad, as we continue to play off of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Our trajectory takes us from Russia to Brazil today, until 7:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

August 10, 2016
Rautavaara Challenge 5 Hours of Finnish Music

Get ready for the Rautavaara Challenge!

The great Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara died on July 27 at the age of 87. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, but tomorrow morning on WPRB, I’ll finally give the master his due, with FIVE BLESSED HOURS devoted to his music.

Rautavaara, widely regarded as one of the world’s great composers, the grand old man of Finnish music, and the spiritual heir of Jean Sibelius, composed eight symphonies, nine operas, 14 concertos, and dozens of other orchestral and vocal compositions.

How much Rautavaara is too much Rautavaara? We’re soon to find out. Scoff at the excessive heat warning with five hours of music from Finland (including Rautavaara’s “Cantus Arcticus”), tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’re cool to the Finnish, on Classic Ross Amico.

August 10, 2016
Brazilian Music & Shostakovich Leningrad Symphony

Boa tarde!

As we have for the past several weekdays, we’ll be interspersing into our playlist a few works by Brazilian composers and on Brazilian themes, the better to satisfy your musical curiosity, since television coverage of the Olympic Games in Rio cleaves pretty closely to the arenas.

We’ll also observe the birthday anniversary of Reynaldo Hahn, a figure whose origins were in Venezuela, though he spent much of his creative life in Paris, where he became an exquisite composer of art songs (and the longtime companion of Marcel Proust). Sure, his songs turn up in recitals from time to time, and once in a while you’ll hear his delightful work for winds, harp and piano, “The Ball of Beatrice d’Este,” but we’ll actually get to enjoy his Piano Concerto.

It’s also the anniversary of the first performance in Leningrad, in 1942, of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7, the so-called “Leningrad Symphony,” a work that so embodied the plight of a city under foreign siege that its citizens were both moved to tears and inspired to battle on. The Soviets blared the performance over loud speakers pointed away from the city and toward the German lines, knocking out the Nazi artillery beforehand to ensure the enemy could absorb the defiant work in all its bombastic glory.

I hope you’ll join me this afternoon on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org. I’ll be here in all my bombastic glory until 4:00 EDT.

August 9, 2016

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