Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Adolphus Hailstork An American Composer

I’ve been a fan of Adolphus Hailstork since the 1980s. That’s when I first heard “Done Made My Vow,” as part of a concert broadcast over the radio.

“Done Made My Vow” (1985) is often described as a gospel oratorio, inspired in part by speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. So uplifting is the marriage of words and music, I hoped for years that it would be recorded. Then one day I stumbled across a copy in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gift shop.

Hailstork has been part of the fabric of American music since at least the 1970s. Born in Rochester, New York, in 1941, he earned his BA from Howard University, his MA from the Manhattan School of Music – where his teachers included Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond – and his doctorate from Michigan State, where his studied with H. Owen Reed. Then he was off, like so many of his great American forebears, to study at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger.

For many years, Hailstork was composer-in-residence at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where he taught. He is perhaps best known for his choral music, though it was the wistful slow movement of his Symphony No. 1, composed for a summer music festival in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, that next caught my ear.

I was elated to finally hear “Done Made My Vow” live with the New York Philharmonic last season, with the composer in attendance. A week later, I actually got to meet him at the premiere of his Symphony No. 4 at Alice Tully Hall. As succinctly as I could, I tried to express how much I admired his music and for how long. He listened graciously and as he signed a few of my CD booklets admitted that it’s good to be appreciated. It seems his music has always been performed, but in recent years, with arts organizations increasing their efforts to be more inclusive in their programming, Hailstork, now 82, is finally receiving some much-deserved high-profile recognition.

The text for “Done Made My Vow” was tweaked for the New York Philharmonic performance, but to my knowledge that version has yet to be recorded. Enjoy the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra recording at the link. The music is hale, but the sentiments are King.

A Hailstork miscellany:

Symphony No. 1 (1988): Mov’t II, Lento ma non troppo

“Sonata da Chiesa” (1992), inspired by the composer’s love of cathedrals (especially the one he sang in as a boy in Albany, New York)

“Motherless Child” (2002)

“Celebration!” (1974)

“Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed: In Memoriam Martin Luther King, Jr.” (1979)

January 15, 2024
Explore Viking Lore Hear the Lur on Lost Chord

Experience the lore of the lur!

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll embrace our hirsute stoicism with a “low key” (like Loki, get it?) hour of music inspired by the Icelandic Eddas.

Experience selections from “The Rheingold Curse,” after the “Volsunga Saga,” the earliest written sources of the ancient Germanic myths (including those of Sigurd, Loki, and Fafnir). We’ll hear them in imaginative, though scholarly-informed, realizations by Benjamin Bagby and the ensemble Sequentia.

Then we’ll turn to “The Creation of the World,” Part One of a bold, massive “Edda” oratorio by Icelandic composer Jón Leifs. Odin and his brothers defeat the giant Ymir, and from him fashion Earth, Sea, and Heavens, and soon after create the first man and woman from two trees. With its horn-helmeted, grunting choruses, laconic pounding, and austere poetry, this one will have you shouting for more mead.

Swan’s bone flutes, tuned rocks, and Nordic lurs (reconstructions of ancient Viking horns) lend “Cold Comfort,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for those of you listening in the East. Here are the respective air-times for all three of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EST)

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday on KWAX at 8:00 AM PACIFIC TIME (11:00 AM EST)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EST)

Stream all three, at the times indicated, by following the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

January 13, 2024
Sweetness and Light Breakfast Radio Show KWAX

In the world of “Sweetness and Light,” we never lock our doors, so it’s hardly surprising that someone would help herself to our porridge while we’re out for a walk, waiting for it to cool down. But she will do so most adorably, to music by British Light Music master Eric Coates.

At least there will still be plenty of caffeine, as we’ll also enjoy tea (for two) with Shostakovich and coffee (with whipped cream) with Richard Strauss. Comedian, filmmaker, and composer Charlie Chaplin will set aside his bowler and bamboo cane to offer us a second cup, with cake. There will be a light music flapjack, served fresh off the griddle by Peter Yorke, and some domestic breakfast bustle courtesy of Len Stevens. Lending a touch of sophistication, Jean Françaix will evoke some wry French café scenes, and Henry Mancini will moon over a display window at Tiffany’s with a bagged croissant and a coffee-to-go.

I hope you’ll join me for a light breakfast today on an all-new “Sweetness and Light,” produced right here, in my home studio, for exclusive broadcast on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon, this Saturday morning at 8:00 Pacific Time (11:00 on the East Coast).

Stream it wherever you are at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

January 13, 2024
Runaway Chat Postponed Vikings on KWAX Tonight

Our scheduled discussion about the Michael Crichton science fiction thriller “Runaway” (1984) on tonight’s Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner has been postponed until Sunday at 7 PM. Which means you are now free to enjoy my Viking show on “Picture Perfect” – that’s right, all music from Viking movies – tonight on KWAX at 8:00 EST (5:00 PST)! Stream it at the link.

ODINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

January 12, 2024
Viking Movie Music Swords Fjords and Soundtracks

We’ve got the need for mead!

This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s an hour of swords and fjords, as we travel north for music from movies about the Norsemen.

In “The Long Ships” (1963), two Viking brothers, played by the unlikely pair of Richard Widmark and Russ Tamblyn, make off with a king’s funeral ship – and the king’s daughter – as they set sail on a quest for the fabled “Mother of Voices,” an enormous solid gold bell – also coveted by a Moorish prince, played by the late Sidney Poitier. Needless to say, camp value is high. The music for this British-Yugoslavian production is by the Serbian composer Dusan Radic.

“Prince Valiant” (1954), based on the enduring comic strip by Hal Foster, is set in the days of King Arthur, though Val himself is a Viking prince of the kingdom of Scandia. And indeed Vikings play an important role in the film. Victor McLaglen is Val’s Viking pal Boltar, Janet Leigh is Princess Aleta, James Mason the villainous Sir Brack, and Sterling Hayden a ridiculous Gawain. Robert Wagner dons the signature page-boy haircut.

The score is every bit as vivid as the film’s Technicolor. We’ll hear selections from a very special recording, with the composer himself, Franz Waxman, conducting.

Michael Crichton’s 1976 novel, “Eaters of the Dead,” presents an unlikely, fish-out-of-water alliance, between historic Persian ambassador of the 10th century, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, and a band of Vikings. They overcome their cultural differences to face off against the Wendol, humanoid creatures who periodically emerge from the mist to feed on human flesh.

Crichton’s story was filmed in 1997 and ultimately released as “The 13th Warrior” (1999), with Antonio Banderas as Ibn Fadlan. The production was plagued by misfortune. The original director, John McTiernan, who found success with “Die Hard,” was fired for running over-budget, and Crichton himself was brought in to re-shoot a number of the scenes. Nevertheless, the film proved to be a box office failure. But any movie to feature a Jerry Goldsmith score – and Vikings! – can’t be all bad.

The legendary Jack Cardiff, who actually directed “The Long Ships,” provided the stunning cinematography for “The Vikings” (1958). The film stars Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and Ernest Borgnine. Although unintentionally amusing on several levels, “The Vikings” is highly regarded for its attention to detail and stabs at historical accuracy – particularly in regard to its Viking dragon boats.

Also impressive is the haunting score by Mario Nascimbene, which we’ll hear in a digital re-recording, issued on the Prometheus Records label, featuring the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Nic Raine. The recording is like mead from Valhalla.

I hope you’ll join me for an hour of runes and tunes. It’s the definitive mix-tape for your dragonship, on “Picture Perfect, music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for those of you listening in the East. Here are the respective air-times for all three of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EST)

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday on KWAX at 8:00 AM PACIFIC TIME (11:00 AM EST)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EST)

Stream all three, at the times indicated, by following the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

January 12, 2024

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