What composer helped spur Michelle Kwan to Olympic excellence? Kwan skated to William Alwyn’s harp concerto, “Lyra Angelica,” during her legendary free skate at the 1998 Winter Olympics.*
Polyglot, poet, artist and especially musician, Alwyn played flute for a time with the London Symphony Orchestra. He taught composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1926 to 1955. He was a composer of symphonies, operas, concertos, string quartets and film scores.
My personal favorite of the symphonies is No. 4. Dig that cascading scherzo of a second movement! Then feel your heart tug at the third.
His Symphony No. 3 may be the most structurally amazing, with the first movement generated from an 8-note theme, the second from a 4-note fragment, and the last a combination of the two. By golly, that’s all twelve notes of the chromatic scale – twelve-tone music! Then why is it so damned beautiful?
Of course, there is much to be said for the simple pleasures of his music for “The Crimson Pirate.”
In all, Alwyn wrote music for dozens of films, including “Odd Man Out,” “The Fallen Idol,” “A Night to Remember,” and “Swiss Family Robinson.” Fun fact: He was also a cousin of Gary Cooper!
Stay tuned, next Tuesday I’ll be posting about the love of Alwyn’s life, composer Doreen Carwithen, on the centenary of her birth.
For the present, happy birthday, William Alwyn (1905-1985)!
*Attentive listeners will note the interpolation of Satie’s “Gymnopédie No. 1” (in Debussy’s orchestration) in the middle of Kwan’s routine.
But the inspiring music for harp and strings is all Alwyn. You can hear the complete piece at the link below. Inspired by the metaphysical poetry of Giles Fletcher, it was always a highlight of my radio playlist on an Easter morning.
We all catch a break today. We got an extra hour’s sleep (in theory, anyway) – if you remembered to change your clocks – and we get a week off from “The Lost Chord,” as tonight’s show will be preempted, because of a special broadcast.
Rob Kapilow will bring his popular radio program “What Makes It Great” to Mercer County Community College’s Black Box Theatre (adjacent to the WWFM studios) for an invitation-only presentation. I believe the plan is for Rob himself this time to illustrate his lively deconstructions with musical examples and performances on piano and guitar. The event will be broadcast live, beginning at 7:00 EST.
Due to this special event, “The Dress Circle” with Ted Otten and Michael Kownacky will be heard this evening at 9:00, “The Lyric Stage” with Mike Harrah will be heard at 10:00, and probably “The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center” will be heard at 11:00. All I know is that Carl Hemmingsen and I get the boot. So no “The Lost Chord” or “Half Past” this week, which is fine, because you’ll all want to hit the hay early anyway in order to start your work week on the right foot.
Kapilow’s appearance is part of WWFM’s “40 and Forward” membership campaign, celebrating the station’s 40th year. If you haven’t had a chance to show your support, consider tossing us a few acorns. We’ve been enjoying a reprieve from the cold weather, but most assuredly winter is on the way and the larders need to be fortified.
We’ll continue to fiddle for our supper, but we can only do so thanks to the generosity of listeners like you. Help ensure a future of WWFM – The Classical Network sharing great music in our community and around the world with your donation today at wwfm.org.
Enjoy the programming, and thank you, as always for your support!
Remember, remember, the Fifth of November – and don’t forget to turn your clocks for an extra hour of Guy Fawkes Night! Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday.
William Byrd, a “Gentleman of the Chapel Royal,” was one of the best loved and certainly one of the most powerful musicians in England. In 1575, Queen Elizabeth granted him and Thomas Tallis – who had been a “Gentleman” from the time of Henry VIII – a 21 year monopoly on polyphonic music and a patent to print and publish music.
Despite Byrd’s favored status within the Anglican Church, he converted to Catholicism, 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 religion, 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.
This week on “Picture Perfect,” as the shadows lengthen, we revisit the world of film noir, a genre notoriously slippery to define, but easy to know when you see it – with its long shadows and moral ambiguities; cock-eyed camera angles and snappy repartee; isolation and innuendo. It’s a genre wherein a pair of gams is an invitation to the gallows; wherein a man’s best friend – and sometimes his worst enemy – is his Colt .38, wherein only cigarettes and bourbon can ease the pain.
The labyrinthine mystery at the heart of “The Big Sleep” (1946) is so disorienting, even the book’s author, Raymond Chandler, couldn’t tell whodunit. Who cares? Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall get some more steamy dialogue to satisfy fans of “To Have and Have Not,” and there’s plenty of Bogie pounding the pavement and tossing off tart one-liners in pursuit of the truth. But my favorite scene involves Dorothy Malone, who runs the hottest bookstore in town.
Whenever there are gallows to be built or gangsters to be beaten, Warner Bros. could be counted on to assign Max Steiner.
“Touch of Evil” (1958) is often considered to be the last of the classic noirs. Yet another brilliant feature by Orson Welles, it was taken out of the master’s hands and re-edited by the studio. The film was restored only in 1998, to bring it closer to Welles’ original design.
If you can get past Charlton Heston as a Mexican, “Touch of Evil” is one of the director’s best films. Welles himself is unforgettable as corrupt police captain Hank Quinlan. He’s joined by Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, and Marlene Dietrich, against a rogues’ gallery of memorable hoodlums and lowlifes.
The film is celebrated, for, among things, a sustained and fluidly-executed tracking shot, which spans over three minutes – an eternity in film – documenting two threads of overlapping action. The score, by Henry Mancini, is equally arresting, as it often seems as if it’s diegetic – whatever music happens to be playing on a radio or in a nightclub – lending its own counterpoint to the seedy drama.
“Chinatown” (1974) is one of the best of the neo-noirs of the 1970s. Jack Nicholson plays private dick J.J. Gittes, who takes on a seemingly routine case that begins to spiral out of control. When producer Robert Evans rejected Philip Lambro’s original score, Jerry Goldsmith stepped in as a last-minute replacement. The composer was hired with the understanding that he had only ten days to write and record new music. For his effort, Goldsmith received an Academy Award nomination.
Finally, we’ll have music by the king of noir composers, Miklós Rózsa. Before he came to be stereotyped for his work on epic films like “Ben-Hur,” “King of Kings” and “El Cid,” Rózsa provided scores for genre classics such as “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,” “The Killers, “Brute Force,” and “The Naked City.”
We’ll hear an extended suite from “Double Indemnity” (1944). Sultry Barbara Stanwyck ensnares insurance salesman Fred MacMurray in a plot to bump off her husband for the insurance money, sparking an investigation by MacMurray’s boss, Edward G. Robinson. Director Billy Wilder shows how it should be done, in one of the high-water marks of the genre.
Put on your rumpled linen suit, draw the Venetian blinds, and play the sap for nobody. We’ve got a nose for noir this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
If you enjoy either of my weekly shows (or both!), or any of the other music you hear on The Classical Network, please consider making a contribution today. We’re celebrating our 40th anniversary on the air and online. If you’re in a position to do so, why not make a donation right now at wwfm.org. Thank you in advance for your generosity and for your continued support of WWFM The Classical Network!
Time got away from us last night, as we realized we were cresting two hours in our discussion of “Back to the Future” (1985). There’s got to be some irony in that. And there was still plenty left on the table.
This last of a golden age of summer blockbusters was the time travel movie we didn’t know we needed. Now who would want to do without it?
You can watch the entire conversation, with viewer comments, at the link. And make a mental note to change your clocks tonight, as we “fall back!”
Whereas this week’s show went by like a flash of lightning meeting a DeLorean tearing down Main Street at 88 m.p.h., next week may wind up being a bit of a slog – at least for Classic Ross Amico, who is no big fan of “Space: 1999.” Gerry Anderson’s “The Day After Tomorrow” (1975) looks to be cut from the same cloth.
At least it’s directed by Charles Chrichton, who directed “The Lavender Hill Mob” and “A Fish Called Wanda,” and surely anything with Brian Blessed is worth watching. It’s only 47 minutes long – actually a pilot for a projected TV series – so hopefully I’ll be able to make it through, provided I can find it streaming anywhere.
My enthusiasm is not assured on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Please bring your insights to the comments section, so Roy has something to play off of, when we livestream on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, next Friday evening at 7:30 Eastern STANDARD Time.
