Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

  • Remembering Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

    Remembering Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

    Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, the former enfant terrible, who, in his later years, served for a decade in the ultimate Establishment post as Master of the Queen’s Music, died of leukemia on March 14th. He was recognized as one of the leading British composers of his generation.

    Max made his home in the Orkney Islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, for the last 45 years of his life. Though he composed in a multiplicity of forms and styles, many of his most attractive and deeply felt works were inspired by the austere seascapes churning outside his cottage and the Celtic folk traditions of his adopted land.

    September 8th would have been Max’s 82nd birthday. Tomorrow morning on WPRB, I’ll honor the composer with a number of representative works drawn from his prodigious output.

    Since five hours of uninterrupted Maxwell Davies could very well push anyone over the edge, especially when it comes to his more challenging works, I’ll mix things up a bit by interpolating music by other composers who hailed from Scotland, were of Scottish descent, or just plain loved to visit.

    The Scotch will be on the rocks, as we travel from the Highlands to the Orkney Islands, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.org. It will be more appetizing than a plate full of haggis, on Classic Ross Amico.

  • Spanish Guitar Noontime Concert WWFM

    Spanish Guitar Noontime Concert WWFM

    ¡Buenos días, amigos!

    I hope you’ll join me today, as WWFM begins its fall series of “Noontime Concerts.” I’ll host a broadcast of Spanish guitar works performed by The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo.

    The concert took place on May 28 at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Pittstown, NJ, located in rural Hunterdon County, as part of the Raritan River Music Festival. Soprano Rochelle Ellis will join the duo for “Aranjuez, ma pensée,” after the famous adagio from Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” and the composer’s “Four Love Madrigals,” as well as Manuel de Falla’s “Seven Spanish Folksongs.” Also on the program will be music by Isaac Albéniz.

    The concert will open with the world premiere performance of “Incendia” by Ryan Sandor, an 8th grade student at Alexandria Middle School and a winner of the Hunterdon County Young Composers Contest.

    Michael Newman has been on the faculty of Mannes College of Music in New York City for 37 years. Recently, he joined the faculty of The College of New Jersey. Laura Oltman is on the faculty of Lafayette College in Easton, PA. For more than three decades, she has also taught at Princeton University. Rochelle Ellis teaches at both Princeton University and Westminster Choir College.

    The next Raritan River Music concert will be a special fall event, to honor America’s veterans. Singer-songwriter-storytellers Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt will appear at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church on November 6 at 2 p.m. For more information, visit RaritanRiverMusic.org.

    Following today’s “Noontime Concert,” I will salute conductor Evgeny Svetlanov on his birthday anniversary with one of his many recordings of the symphonies of Nikolai Myaskovsky. Enjoy this and more, between 12 and 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

  • Labor Day Classical Music Tribute on WWFM

    Labor Day Classical Music Tribute on WWFM

    As Americans, we work hard, and frequently for too little compensation. This afternoon on WWFM, I’ll be playing selections to honor the integrity of the American worker for Labor Day. We’ll hear Aaron Copland’s “John Henry” and John Alden Carpenter’s construction worker ballet, “Skyscrapers.”

    We’ll also have uplifting works in celebration of the American spirit, including Walter Piston’s Symphony No. 4 and Elie Siegmeister’s “American Sonata.” Picnics and the great outdoors will also be a recurring theme, with pieces like John Corigliano’s “Gazebo Dances” and A.J. Weidt’s “Sweet Corn.”

    So go ahead, crack open a cool one and enjoy yourself. You’ve earned it. It’s back to the mines tomorrow. Hard times come again no more, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

  • American Composers Hit the Road

    American Composers Hit the Road

    I’m not sure that I would characterize Virgil Thomson’s music as being full of gas – though I suppose an argument could be made on occasion concerning his prose! That said, he did write what might very well be the only ballet set in a service station. The success of “Filling Station,” written for Leon Kirstein’s Ballet Caravan, gave Aaron Copland the confidence to follow through on his own Caravan commission, which resulted in “Billy the Kid.”

    You’ll have a chance to hear “Filling Station” tonight, on “The Lost Chord,” as American composers hit the road for Labor Day.

    Also on the program will be Frederick Shepherd Converse’s “Flivver Ten Million,” which celebrates the Ford Motor Company’s affordable assembly line automobile, from its creation in a Detroit factory to the manifest destiny of America’s roadways.

    John Adams’ “Road Movies” has nothing to do with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, alas; what it is, however, is a violin sonata written firmly within the American tradition, with a special affinity at its core with Copland’s Violin Sonata.

    Finally, we’ll hear one of Michael Daughtery’s most performed works, the exuberant “Route 66,” inspired by the storied “Main Street of America.”

    Join me as we put the pedal to the metal, for “The Last Roads of Summer,” this Sunday night at 10 EDT on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

  • Is Wagner’s Music Bad For You?

    Is Wagner’s Music Bad For You?

    Is Wagner’s music bad for you? Probably.

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/may/22/wagner-bad-for-your-mental-health

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