Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Silk Road Movie Music Lunar New Year Special

Are you ready for the Year of the Snake? This week on “Picture Perfect,” with the Lunar New Year just around the corner, we travel the Silk Road to China.

We’ll have music from “The Adventures of Marco Polo” (1938), which features Gary Cooper, of all people, as the medieval merchant-explorer. The score was the first by Hugo Friedhofer (born in San Francisco, despite his über-German name). Freidhofer had been laboring as an orchestrator for bigger-named composers, such as Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Max Steiner. He would go on to win an Academy Award for his music for “The Best Years of Our Lives.”

Then we’ll hear selections from two big screen presentations of the exploits of Genghis Khan. In the best Old Hollywood tradition, “Genghis Khan” (1965) had quite the multi-national cast: Omar Sharif, Stephen Boyd, James Mason, Robert Morley, Francoise Morleac, Telly Savalas, Eli Wallach, Woody Strode, and hordes of extras. The music was by Yugoslavian composer Dusan Radic.

“Mongol” (2007) was a joint production of Russia, Germany and Kazakhstan, but the film was actually shot in China. The music is by Finnish composer Tuomas Kantelinen, supplemented by contributions by the Mongolian rock band Altan Urag. We’ll stick with the orchestral stuff.

The score is striking for its use of khöömii throat-singers, female soloists lamenting and ululating over the orchestra, as well as the unique art of “urtiin duu,” traditional Mongolian long-singing. “Mongol” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Finally, we’ll hear selections from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), with music by Tan Dun. The film was the winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Score. It was also nominated for Best Picture.

Yo-Yo Ma performs the cello solos. One of the tracks is titled “Silk Road.” In 1998, Ma founded the Silk Road Ensemble.

Slip into some sensible shoes. We’ll travel 7000 miles along the Silk Road this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EST/8:00 AM PST

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

January 24, 2025
David Lynch’s Dune A Strange Trip Back to Arrakis

When I saw David Lynch’s “Dune” in the theater, back in 1984, it was just another in a seemingly endless line of space fantasies that flooded cinemas, all of them hoping to suck on the dregs of “Star Wars’” boffo box office. It’s interesting to ponder that, in the wake of Lynch’s critical success as director of “The Elephant Man,” “Star Wars” creator George Lucas approached him with an offer to direct “Return of the Jedi.” Lynch turned it down, later stating that he had “next to zero interest” in the project.

But “Dune” was different. Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel was held in high regard for its political, religious, and ecological insights, and not least, for its immersive world-building. Lynch confessed he’d never heard of it, but when producer Raffaella De Laurentiis (daughter of Dino) approached him to direct the film adaptation (after Ridley Scott left the project), he read it, and he loved it. As one cast member observed, the producers thought they were going to make “Star Wars” for grown-ups.

Personally, I think Lynch was mostly into the sandworms (who wouldn’t be?), the hallucinatory effects of imbibing the Water of Life, and the grotesquerie of the Harkonnens (who at one point force a prisoner to milk a hairless cat – decidedly NOT in the book!). No doubt about it, if Lynch had directed “Return of the Jedi,” it would have been one very strange trip.

The talent that was assembled for him, both before and behind the camera, is insane. The cast alone includes José Ferrer (albeit phoning it in), Max von Sydow, Jürgen “Das Boot” Prochnow, Linda Hunt, Dean Stockwell, Brad Dourif, Richard Jordan, Silvana (Mrs. Dino De Laurentiis) Mangano, Siân (formerly Mrs. Peter O’Toole) Phillips, Sean (always a cipher, but somehow in everything back then) Young, a pre-“Star Trek” Patrick Stewart, Paul “Midnight Express” Smith, Kenneth “Rhoda” McMillan, Sting, and at least three future “Twin Peaks” players, including lead Kyle MacLachlan, “Big Ed” Everett McGill, and Lynch’s good luck charm, Eraser Head himself, Jack Nance. That’s a lot of spice!

Like Scott, Lynch wanted to make it into two films, but was told to tamp it down. His original cut ran to three hours, before the effects were added. Again, he was made to compromise. Sequels were envisioned and everyone had their hopes set on a franchise, but the film tanked at the box office. It’s been described as the “Heaven’s Gate” of science fiction.

Returning to “Dune” 41 years later is an interesting experience, especially having reread the book and seen Denis Villeneuve’s superior adaptations. (Unlike Lynch, Villeneuve was allowed to do it in two parts.) In some respects, the film is very much of the mainstream of its era, especially as it sands off a lot of the book’s moral complexities to turn it into a straightforward fable of rebellion against the black hats and evil imperialists; in others, it’s crazily subversive, with what can only be described as hypnotic Lynchian interludes.

It’s not as incomprehensible as I thought the first time around (even though I had already read Herbert’s novel, I was just a kid), but it is an awful lot of information to ingest. Because of the time limitation, they had to condense reams of exposition and jargon, and Lynch made it even busier by interweaving strange voice-overs. All said, he did the right thing to follow his quirky muse back away from the mainstream, as his next film, “Blue Velvet,” was clearly much more in line with “Eraser Head” and after that, he just kept beating his own woozy trail.

I’ll leave the rest of my observations for tomorrow night, when Roy and I shake the sand out of our bathing suits while discussing “Dune,” on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. We’ll be counting on you to provide the extra spice for our mulled cider in the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

January 23, 2025
Elizabeth I, Tallis & Byrd: Music, Faith & Intrigue

It was on this date, 450 years ago, that Queen Elizabeth I granted license to Thomas Tallis and William Byrd for the exclusive printing of music and ruled music paper in England for 21 years. Naturally, the composers were quick to dedicate their “Cantiones que ab argumento sacrae vocantur,” a collection of 34 Latin motets and one of the first sets of sacred music printed in England, to the queen. Among the motets is Tallis’ “O Nata Lux.” Unfortunately, the volume proved to be a financial flop, and the composers were forced to petition the queen for aid. She responded by granting the leases to certain lands for the period of their musical monopoly.

Interestingly, in an era when different sects within one’s own religion were often regarded with suspicion and subject to discrimination, criminalization, violence, and even death (composer Peter Phillips, a Roman Catholic priest, fled to mainland Europe to escape persecution in England, and was imprisoned by the Dutch authorities, for allegedly plotting the assassination of Elizabeth), the queen, who was Protestant, looked past the fact that both Byrd and Tallis were Catholic.

Tallis, who was clearly either an extremely likeable fellow or a savvy political animal (perhaps both), managed to survive and even thrive, since 1542, as Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, an office for which he composed and performed for Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. Somehow, he always managed to steer clear of religious controversy.

On the other hand, Byrd, Tallis’ pupil, who also served as Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, beginning in 1572, actually converted to Catholicism in the 1570s, and even rubbed shoulders with Robert Catesby, who formulated the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605, during the reign of James I, for which Guy Fawkes gained his undying notoriety.

Though Byrd was never subject to imprisonment for his religious beliefs, he was involved in numerous lawsuits and subjected to heavy fines. Elizabeth interceded on his behalf at least once. He participated in illegal services, and the texts he chose to set to music could, at times, have a subversive edge. In particular, as a Catholic in a Protestant country, he became fond of texts related to persecution. Comparatively speaking, he went unmolested, because of his record of allegiance to the crown.

A good movie could be made about these two composers and their relationship with the queen. Perhaps Cate Blanchett could be convinced to return for a third time as Elizabeth…

Byrd, “Ne irascaris Domine” (“Do not be angry, Lord”), from his “Cantiones sacrae”

Writing for the Anglican Church: “O Lord make They servant Elizabeth our queen”

It’s not easy being Catholic (in a Protestant country): “Tristitia et Anxietas”

Tallis, “O Nata Lux”

“Why fum’th in sight?” (basis for Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”)

Tallis’ greatest hit, “Spem in alium”

January 22, 2025
Remembering Philadelphia Jazz Legend Bob Perkins

Anyone who’s listened to jazz on the radio in Philadelphia is familiar with Bob Perkins’ shorthand. “BP with the GM” signifies “Bob Perkins with the Good Music,” naturally.

During my time at WRTI, if I happened to be filling in on an afternoon classical shift, he and I crossed paths occasionally. (The station segues from classical to jazz at 6:00.) Knowing his sly sense of humor, I offered once, “It’s not every day that British Petroleum meets American Oil Company” – a play on BP and Amico (Amoco). His rejoinder had something to do with both of us being full of gas.

I just learned from this tribute by Kile Smith that Perkins died yesterday at the age of 91. I beg your indulgence for my trafficking in cliché, but with his passing, we lost a piece of living history, with a lifetime of accrued knowledge that truly was encyclopedic. You know how people say, “He’s forgotten more than I’ll ever know?” That was Bob. He actually knew most of the Philadelphia artists, stretching back decades, whose recordings he played.

In his 60-some years in the media, he met countless figures from the worlds of arts and entertainment, politics, radio and TV – people like Nancy Wilson, Johnny Hartman, Billy Eckstine, and Mercer Ellington. As a newsman and editorialist, he was invited to the White House twice, during the Ford and Carter administrations. He was the recipient of numerous honors and awards for his achievements in the field of broadcast.

Beneath the effortless cool Kile describes (and Perkins had it in spades), he also possessed impeccable taste. Whether it was Yusef Lateef’s “Love Theme from Spartacus” or Dakota Staton’s “The Late, Late Show,” I always did enjoy his GM.

I was active at WRTI for a little over two years, hired as an on-call classical host, who somehow wound up holding down a regular overnight jazz shift. How crazy is that? I even filled in on “Sunday Jazz Brunch” once or twice. But I was little more than keeping the chair warm for Bob. All the same, it was an honor for me to be able to share the air waves with him, if only for a short time. R.I.P.

January 21, 2025
Music Meaning Love Faith Happiness

“Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music… there is a stepping stone towards all of these.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 20, 2025

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