Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Royal Albert Hall Celebrates & Classical Greats

Quite the day for musical Anglophiles!

In addition to it being the birthdays today of Sir William Walton and Sir Richard Rodney Bennet, it’s also the 150th anniversary of the opening of Royal Albert Hall.

Wagner conducted there. Hitchcock filmed there. Muhammad Ali fought there.

The hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871.

Of course, at this point, a lot of emphasis is being placed on the popular bands and singers who performed there. I don’t know why, but I have never had the slightest interest in rock music. I continue to scratch my head at the rest of the world.

Here’s an article on the history of Albert Hall that includes some of its quirkier events (still a little weak on the classical music, which you’d probably expect from the derogatory use of “stuffy” in the first sentence):

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-56428543

Hate to refer you to the Wikipedia page, but it’s got more information than most:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall

Footage of Royal Albert Hall in 1967:

Hitchcock filmed the climax of both versions of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” there, in 1934 and 1956. Bernard Herrmann is seen conducting the orchestra in the 1956 version. Don’t watch the clip if you haven’t seen the film yet and plan to do so!

Audio of Elgar conducting his “Enigma Variations” there in 1926:

Vaughan Williams conducting his Symphony No. 5 there in 1952:

March 29, 2021
Walton Symphony No 2 Previn LSO Royal Albert Hall

On William Walton’s birthday, and the 150th anniversary of the opening of Royal Albert Hall, here’s André Previn conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in Walton’s undervalued Symphony No. 2, at the Proms in 1974.

March 29, 2021
Early Music Month on The Lost Chord

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll celebrate Early Music Month with three works by contemporary American composers who look back to the Renaissance.

William Kraft (b. 1923), long associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, composed “Vintage Renaissance” for the Boston Pops. The work incorporates two 15th century melodies: “Danza,” by Francesco de la Torre, and an anonymous “bransle.”

George Frederick McKay (1899-1970), the so-called “Dean of Northwest Composers,” founded the composition department at the University of Washington, where he taught for over 40 years. His “Suite on Sixteenth Century Hymn Tunes” is based on works by Louis Bourgeois (c. 1510-1559), compiler of Calvinist hymn tunes and composer of the Protestant doxology known as the “Old 100th.”

Lukas Foss (1922-2009), the German-born musical prodigy who settled in the United States in 1937, composed his “Renaissance Concerto” in 1986. The work, for flute and orchestra, falls into four movements: “Intrada;” “Baroque Interlude” (on a theme of Rameau); “Recitative” (after Monteverdi); and “Jouissance” (after a 1612 madrigal by a composer of the name David Melville).

I hope you’ll join me, as American composers cast an affectionate look back, on “It’s Never Too Late to Be Early,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 28, 2021
Samuel Ramey Turns 80 A Bass-Baritone Birthday

The boss of bass-baritones turns 80 today!

Samuel Ramey recently announced he’ll be returning to the operatic stage in 2022. Time will tell whether or not he’ll start wearing a shirt.

At the link, there he is as Verdi’s “Attila.” Only Ramey could make me love this opera. Listen to that audience, at around 3:20 and again at 7:04. The adoration is such that he finally launches into an encore.

For me, of course, his signature role will always be Boito’s Mefistofele.

Act I, Son lo spirito che nega (I am the spirt that denies)

Act II, Ecco il mondo (Behold the world)

A concert performance of the Prologue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7l4msqaqos

Singing Cimarosa with Thomas Hampson

Ramey as Don Giovanni at the Met

And as “L” Toreador on “Sesame Street”

“L” is for my love for Samuel Ramey. Happy birthday!

March 28, 2021
Korngold From Vienna to Hollywood

One of classical music’s most astonishing composer prodigies – springing fully formed from the head of Zeus, as it were – Erich Wolfgang Korngold became the toast of Vienna. His opera “Die tote Stadt” was probably his greatest success, receiving double-premieres in Hamburg and Cologne. It became one of the most popular operas by a living composer during the 1920s.

With the rise of the Nazis, Korngold and his family found refuge in Hollywood, where he wrote film scores for Warner Brothers, including those for some of my personal favorites: “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” (1938) “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex” (1939), “The Sea Hawk” (1940), and “Kings Row” (1942).

Also during this period, he composed a “Passover Psalm,” on a commission from Rabbi Jacob Sonderling, founder of Fairfax Temple in Los Angeles. While ethnically Jewish, Korngold was not a particularly religious man. His only other sacred work, “Prayer,” was also composed for Sonderling.

Korngold swore he would produce no new concert music until Hitler was removed from power. He made those two exceptions for Fairfax Temple. Here is Korngold’s “Passover Psalm” (1941):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cpvsi4TFto

Chag aviv sameach!

By coincidence, Korngold is also the subject of today’s “Composer’s Datebook.” Listen here:

https://www.yourclassical.org/programs/composers-datebook/episodes/2021/03/28

March 28, 2021

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