Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Schubert Birthday Orchestrated Lieder

Today is the birthday of Franz Schubert (1797-1828), one of the greatest of all art song composers. Thomas Quasthoff and Anne Sofie von Otter recorded a fascinating album for the Deutsche Grammophon label a number of years back, with Claudio Abbado conducting the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in orchestrations of Schubert lieder by other notable composers, including Brahms, Britten, Liszt, Offenbach, Reger and Webern.

Here is Quasthoff performing two of Schubert’s most famous songs, “Erlkönig” (“The Erl-King”), as orchestrated by Reger, and “Ständchen” (“Serenade”), as orchestrated by Offenbach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwfWtlrFkDU

And Otter performing “Der Vollmond auf Bergeshöh’n” (“The Full Moon Shines on the Mountain Height”) from “Rosamunde,” in Schubert’s own orchestration, and “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”), as orchestrated by Britten.

Nothing can match the originals, of course, but I, for one, feel fortunate to be able to enjoy these fascinating arrangements.

Happy birthday, Franz Schubert!

January 31, 2016
Flu or Cold Surviving a Sick Day on the Air

So do I have the flu, or just a really bad cold? After a day like yesterday, who cares? All I know is that I felt terrible. But in the worlds of radio and journalism, no one can stay sick for long. So after a full day spent flat on my back, I am once again propped up in front of the microphone. Rolf Charlston is on vacation, so I’ll be at the helm this morning, spinning classical on WRTI from 6 to noon.

Listen locally, in the Philadelphia area, at 90.1 FM or online at wrti.org. A full list of translators here: http://wrti.org/wrti-coverage-map

I’ll have plenty of citrus and chicken broth at the ready.

NOW PLAYING: Sibelius, Incidental music to “King Kristian II”

January 30, 2016
Charles Martin Loeffler: Neglected Composer

The honor of “neglected composer du jour” must go to Charles Martin Loeffler. Loeffler was born on this date in 1861; he died in 1935.

Though he long claimed to be of Alsation birth, Loeffler in actuality was born outside Berlin. The composer turned against Germany after his father died in prison, where he had been sent for his subversive writings, when Loeffler was only 12 years-old.

Loeffler was a fastidious artist, who cut his teeth in Berlin and Paris, and indeed he is frequently identified as French-American. He settled in Boston in 1881, where he shared the first desk with the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony and became an important figure in the city’s musical life.

A man of wide culture and refined taste, he founded the Boston Opera Company. In 1887, he left the Symphony to devote himself wholly to composition.

Tune in this morning to hear Loeffler’s symphonic poem of 1906, titled “A Pagan Poem.” Inspired by the eighth Eclogue of Virgil, in which a maiden of Thessaly, abandoned by her lover, revives his ardor through the use of sorcery.

The work was first performed by the Boston Symphony, under Karl Muck. It was later championed by Leopold Stokowski, who recorded it for EMI. The piano plays such a prominent role, the piece sounds at times as if it may be a piano concerto. We’ll hear pianist Robert Hunter, and also English hornist William Kosinski. Enjoy it at 11:00 on WRTI 90.1 FM or at wrti.org.

Happy birthday, Charles Martin Loeffler!

PHOTO: Loeffler (left) and Stokowski — who’s the true pagan here?

January 30, 2016
Princeton Symphony’s World Tour with Upshaw and Luo

Armchair travelers, rejoice! The Princeton Symphony Orchestra will offer a trip around the world this weekend. Book passage to Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium this Sunday at 4 p.m., as the orchestra embarks for Hungary (by way of Zoltán Kodály), Spain, Eastern Europe, and Amherst, Massachusetts (by way of Osvaldo Golijov), China (by way of Jing Jing Luo), and Bohemia (by way of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart).

The PSO continues its season-long celebration of the creativity of women with not one, but two notable guest artists. Dawn Upshaw will be the soloist in Golijov’s “Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra.” Singer and composer are frequent collaborators, with Upshaw frequently described as Golijov’s muse.

The PSO’s other notable guest is composer-in-residence Jing Jing Luo. Luo, a native of Beijing, is “a self-taught calligrapher in Chinese ink brush painting,” an art she says she has practiced since childhood.

The title of her work, “Tsao Shu,” alludes to “Chinese cursive writing, with ink brush, not with pen.” She elaborates, “The piece, it’s about the motion of the calligraphy with the ink brush, the motions of the stroke. Each stroke in calligraphy is reflected in music through the string section, percussion section, woodwind and brass.”

Luo will join PSO music director Rossen Milanov for a pre-concert talk on Sunday at 3 p.m. Milanov will conduct the program, which will also include Kodály’s “Dances of Galanta” and Mozart’s Symphony No. 38, the “Prague” Symphony.

On Saturday at 4 p.m., Luo will converse with composer and PSO board member Julian Grant about Chinese culture and its influence on her art and music. The discussion will take place at the Arts Council of Princeton’s Paul Robeson Center for the Arts. The Saturday event is free with ticketed reservations through the PSO website, princetonsymphony.org.

Read more about it in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/01/classical_music_pso_performing.html

PHOTO: Upshaw armchair traveling with Golijov

January 29, 2016
Flu, Facebook, and Forties Film

Sadly, I’ve come down with some sort of flu. My sleep was disturbed for most of the night by the recollection of George Lloyd’s Symphony No. 6, which I played yesterday morning on WPRB. It kept repeating incessantly in my head. So anything I post today about the newspaper article or “Picture Perfect” will be all cut-and-paste from the original documents.

I just wanted to send a quick note, not so much to garner sympathy, but to follow up on my post of a couple of weeks back, in which I complained about not being able to see anyone else’s pages anymore, not even when using the station computers. Well, yesterday, someone must have thrown the lever again, because now I’m back to roaming free on Facebook. Most peculiar.

Typing this on my back on the couch. Happily, TCM is showing all black-and-white Jean Muir movies from the early ‘30s. The perfect backdrop to a long winter’s snooze.

PHOTO: Dr. Pretorius throws the leeeever

January 29, 2016

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