Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Godzilla Vegetarian? Morton Gould’s Dinosaur Music

You mean to tell me Godzilla was a vegetarian?

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/-world-s-biggest-dinosaur–discovered-in-argentina-203028038.html

Which reminds me, were there two Morton Goulds? Gould was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for his virtuosic “StringMusic.” I can only assume the awards committee was ignorant of the fact that, in 1993, he had composed a “hip-hop opera” titled “The Jogger and the Dinosaur.” Of course, Gould had never shied from incorporating popular music into his works, but it seems a bit of a stretch from rhumba to rap. Come to think of it, in 1956, he did compose the “Jekyll and Hyde Variations.” Sadly(?), there don’t appear to be any sound clips of “The Jogger and the Dinosaur” online.

Instead, here’s “My Friend, the Brachiosaurus,” from John Williams’ score for “Jurassic Park.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmx5TPoXPdI

May 20, 2014
Anne Boleyn Beheaded Her Lament & Callas

It was on this date in 1536 that Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, was beheaded for adultery, incest and witchcraft.

Here’s a lament attributed to Anne, allegedly written during her imprisonment in the Tower of London.

And here’s Callas, captured at La Scala in 1957, in the mad scene from Donizetti’s dramatization. The audience, at the 9:14 mark, sounds like they’re going to take the place apart.

May 19, 2014
Mount St Helens Eruption Remembering the 1980 Disaster

It was on this date in 1980 that Mount St. Helens blew, killing 57 people, reducing hundreds of square miles to wasteland, and causing over $1 billion in damage.

Sounds worthy of a symphony to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLs7rT8AGe4

PHOTO: That ain’t cauliflower

May 18, 2014
Swedish Spring Music on The Lost Chord

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we focus on “The Virgin Spring.” No, not the Bergman film, in which Max von Sydow exacts terrible vengeance on those who… well, nevermind. See the movie.

Anyway, the show’s not about that. The spring in the film is a body of water, a symbol of rebirth and renewal, but we’re using “spring” in the purely seasonal sense, as we enjoy an hour of vernal expressions by Swedish composers.

We’ll hear the “Pastoral Suite,” by Gunnar de Frumerie, and two works by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: first, one of the books from his collection “Flowers of Frösö;” then the “Earina Suite.” “Earina,” derived from the Greek “earinos,” meaning “spring-like,” according to the composer conjures a world of “cult deeds and magic rites… belonging to some undefined natural religion.”

The long winter dissolves in the lengthening days of “The Virgin Spring,” this Sunday night at 10 ET, with a repeat Thursday night at 11; or enjoy it as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

May 17, 2014
Godzilla Music & Dinosaur Movie Soundtracks

Godzilla’s coming!

Although I have a feeling we’re going be deprived of the out-of-sync dubbing and guy-in-a-rubber-suit-stomping-on-models that gave most of the earlier installments their charm, I am cautiously optimistic in that it looks as if at least they’ve tried to handle the latest incarnation with some integrity. We’ll see how overboard they go with the effects. But no superheroes or Transformers is a good sign. Also, it looks like they got some real actors. (R.I.P. Raymond Burr.)

To mark the release of the new film, this week on “Picture Perfect,” the focus will be on music from dinosaur movies. I know, I know, Godzilla isn’t strictly speaking a dinosaur. How many dinosaurs have atomic breath? However, in researching the show, I did come across an amusing article in Smithsonian Magazine, in which paleontologists speculate what dinosaurs may have been a part of Godzilla’s DNA. Before his radioactive mutation that is. Here’s the link, if you’re interested:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-kind-of-dinosaur-is-godzilla-45639768/?no-ist

Curiously, the article was written in 2012, so as far as I can tell it’s not a piece of Hollywood merchandising, making it either an admirable display of scientific integrity or a slow day in the newsroom.

We’ll hear music from the soundtrack for the new “Godzilla,” by Alexandre Desplat; also selections from “The Land Before Time,” by James Horner; “One Million Years B.C.,” by Mario Nascimbene; and “Jurassic Park,” by John Williams.

I hope you’ll join me for Godzilla and friends, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6 ET. You can listen to it then, or later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.

RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

PHOTOS: King of the Monsters; Queen of the Fur Bikini

May 15, 2014

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