Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Celebrating 800 followers with Richard Arnell’s “Gorilla” Symphony

Wow. My post about Klaus Tennstedt Saturday for his centenary put me up over 800 followers. I can’t even keep up with responses to the comments. Thanks, everybody! I always try to post good or interesting material, but you know, if a tree falls in the woods, etc.

To keep it musical, as today’s 800-pound gorilla, I’d like to share the Symphony No. 5 by Richard Arnell, which the composer subtitled the “Gorilla” – a humorous analogy between the work and a gorilla he visited at the London Zoo. It has a great tune in the last movement, derived from the music hall, that Arnell’s father used to sing and whistle.

It’s a live performance by the Arizona-based MusicaNova Orchestra, which has done so much to champion Arnell’s music over the years (and neglected repertoire in general).

You can learn more about them here:

https://www.musicanovaaz.org/

Then join me in celebrating 800 followers with Arnell’s “Gorilla” Symphony.

On to 900!

June 8, 2026
Stunning Radvanovsky Worth the Wait, After Rain Delay at the Princeton Festival

Because of safety concerns regarding the ill-timed thunderstorms that battered the region last night not long before curtain, it was nearly 9:00 before soprano Sondra Radvanovsky took the stage of the performance pavilion at Morven Museum & Garden for the second night of The Princeton Festival. But boy, when she did, did she deliver.

The program was perfectly tailored to suit her voice, with selections by Verdi (“La forza del destino”), Giordano (“André Chénier”), and Puccini (“Tosca” – which she’ll be singing at the Met next season – and an imperious Turandot). Her control was riveting, her dramatic presence hypnotic, and when she was under full sail, she flooded the tent with a magisterial voice that stirred overwhelming emotion.

She was joined by rising tenor Victor Starsky, a Princeton Festival veteran, who sang Cavaradossi in last year’s production of “Tosca” and will return next week as Pinkerton in “Madama Butterfly.” Starsky had his time in the spotlight with “Celeste Aida” and that old standby, “Nessun Dorma.” Nothing sets a crowd wild like a tenor in full voice.

But even more compelling, for me, personally, were his duets with Radvanovsky (from “Un Ballo in maschera” and “Manon Lescaut”), which allowed his passion to bubble over. I was left shaken by their concluding “Vicino a te s’acqueta,” from “André Chénier,” in which the couple anticipates fulfillment of their love in their impending death at the guillotine (“Viva la morte insiem!”) – so much so that, as I was chatting with some people behind me afterward, I nearly broke down.

No doubt there would have been encores, but it was already pushing 11:00. I’m sure a lot of contracted employees are going to be getting overtime.

Rossen Milanov conducted The Princeton Symphony Orchestra, in support of the singers, but also supplied the overtures and interludes by Verdi, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo. It was a late night, so I was thankful for having imbibed a strong cold brew beforehand. Even so, I think it would have been impossible to nod. It was definitely worth sweating it out in the car for an hour, waiting for the thunder and lightning to subside.

Today is the festival’s Community Day, with Yoga in the Garden (to live musical accompaniment) already underway. That will be followed this afternoon by family friendly activities, including an instrument “petting zoo,” a musical story time, a quilting exhibition, “Harriet Powers: American Icon,” with the Princeton Sankofa Stitchers Modern Quilt Guild, and American Repertory Ballet‘s 30-minute “Swan Lake Experience,” an accelerated story of the ballet with audience participation, from 12-3 p.m.

This evening, Milanov and the PSO will return to join the dancers for a program that will feature pas de deux from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and “The Sleeping Beauty,” Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” and a world premiere choreographed to music by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw. But especially interesting to me will be a ballet set to Jean Françaix’s Piano Concerto, with Steven Beck the soloist. The event will commence in the performance pavilion on the Morven grounds at 7 p.m.

Morven Museum & Garden is located at 55 Stockton Street (Route 206) in Princeton, NJ.

The Princeton Festival runs through July 21. For tickets and information, visit princetonsymphony.org/festival.

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I didn’t take any pictures last night. I’ll add a more pertinent photo once the Princeton Festival makes one available!

June 7, 2026
Italian Dressing on “The Lost Chord”

It seems as if it was only a matter of time before any Baroque musician of merit would become embroiled in a musical duel.

In the case of Domenico Scarlatti, he was challenged by none other than George Frideric Handel, in Rome. The resulting contest led to Handel being judged superior to his rival on the organ; however, on the harpsichord Scarlatti was deemed to be supreme. In fact, Scarlatti’s unusual facility at the keyboard has had artists “keyed up” for centuries.

Born in Naples in 1685 – the same year as Handel and Bach – Scarlatti spent much of his career in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He wrote 555 keyboard sonatas, which have been admired by composer-performers from Frederic Chopin to Marc-André Hamelin.

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll enjoy several works written in tribute to this Baroque master.

Charles Avison, whose life overlapped Scarlatti’s own (he was born in 1709, when Scarlatti was 23 years-old), arranged a number of his elder colleague’s keyboard works into a set of 12 concerti grossi. We’ll sample one of those, Avison’s Concerto No. 10 in D.

Then we’ll turn to American composer Norman Dello Joio. Dello Joio was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1957 for his “Meditations on Ecclesiastes.” From 1979, we’ll hear his four-movement piano work, “Salute to Scarlatti.”

Dmitri Shostakovich arranged two of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas for small wind ensemble and percussion. We’ll enjoy performances of these by members of the former USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Finally, Alfredo Casella’s 1926 suite for piano and orchestra, “Scarlattiana,” draws its inspiration from dozens of Scarlatti sonatas. Though unquestionably high-spirited, it was not originally intended for the dance – but since it unabashedly recalls Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella,” it is hardly surprising that some clown decided to choreograph it.

I hope you’ll join me for a mixed salad of Scarlatti tributes, on “Italian Dressing,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!

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

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

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

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

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu

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PHOTO: Wladimir Skouratoff (levitating) and Jacqueline Moreau in a 1954 production of “Scarlattiana”

June 6, 2026
On a Scale from One to Ten, He Was an Imperfect Ten(nstedt)

Klaus Tennstedt was a mess. But when he came to Philadelphia, his concerts were always something special. Never pedestrian. He was especially celebrated for his Mahler, a composer with whom he shared a neurotic affinity.

He suffered from a fragile ego, crippling stage-fright, ailments real and imagined, and absolute cluelessness as to how to navigate the world. He lived only for music, cigarettes, and women.

He is a prime example of a magnetic interpreter whose power didn’t always transfer to his recordings. Or if it did, it often seemed as if it was at a remove. Which I realize is a ridiculous thing to say. Listening to a recording can’t possibly be the same as being there. But in concert, you got the full package. The last thing on Tennstedt’s mind was “posterity.” A live performance lives in the moment. You experienced the musicmaking in your heart and in your gut.

I was just thinking about Tennstedt last week and wondering if I was as crazy as he was. On one memorable occasion, I attended one of his concerts with no less than three girlfriends (at the time, two former and one current). To my knowledge, that’s the only time I ever did that.

Tennstedt might have been the sweatiest conductor I ever saw. The guy always looked like he just rolled out of bed, badly shaken by the night terrors. He was an interesting character. The world of classical music is a lot blander without him.

Saluting him on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

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Live performance of Mahler Symphony No. 3

Richard Strauss, “Four Last Songs”

Sweaty Wagner fest!

An interesting write-up, in connection with a Tennstedt biography

https://classicalvoiceamerica.org/2023/07/27/tennstedt-bio-shows-great-maestro-at-odds-with-himself-and-world/

June 6, 2026
Say I Do to June Weddings on “Sweetness and Light”

This week on “Sweetness and Light,” hie thee to the church on time. it’s an hour of June weddings!

We’ll have a comedy overture, “The Tinker’s Wedding,” by English composer Havergal Brian. Brian attained notoriety for his “Gothic Symphony,” a work so grand it entered the Guinness Book, when it was acknowledged as the world’s largest symphony. He composed 32 symphonies in all, 20 of them after the age of 80!

We’ll also hear a wedding march by Alexander Glazunov, composed to mark his parents’ silver anniversary and a processional by Philadelphia composer Robert Moran, written as a wedding gift for his friend, organist Robert Ridgell (then of Trinity Wall Street).

Camille Saint-Saëns wrote his confectionery, the “Wedding Cake,” a work for piano and orchestra, as a matrimonial offering to former Liszt pupil Caroline de Serres Wieczffinski (née Montigny-Rémaury). Imagine trying to fit that name on an invitation.

Speaking of the piano, anyone who took lessons surely bears the scars of Carl Czerny. But Czerny composed more than just exercises and etudes. We’ll hear his “Fantaisie brillante” on themes from Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”

We’ll also hear a work by Wolfie’s father, Leopold Mozart, a raucous, descriptive symphony called “The Peasant Wedding.” And a rowdy wedding it is!

Once experienced, there’s no turning back, so we’ll wrap things up with violinist Lara St. John’s polka band, Polkastra, and the “Shotgun Wedding March,” from their album, “I Do.” And I think you’ll agree, Spike Jones would be proud.

Look for me in my squirting boutonniere. Say “I do” to “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX Classical Oregon!

Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

June 6, 2026

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