Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Weekend Online Classical Music Events

Another weekend, and even as we continue to anticipate the reopening of our concert halls and a return to normalcy, there are plenty of online musical events to sustain us. Here are just a few of them.

Tonight at 7:30 pm EST, celebrate Early Music Month with the Philadelphia-based ensemble Piffaro, The Renaissance Band. The program, “The Musical World of Don Quixote,” will include works from 16th and 17th century Spain. The concert will be available for on-demand access for the period of a week. For more information, visit https://www.piffaro.org/

Continuing on a Latin theme, The Philadelphia Orchestra is offering Rodion Shchedrin’s “Carmen Fantasy,” a reimagining of Georges Bizet’s classic melodies for strings and percussion, in a performance featuring special guests, Brian Sanders’ JUNK. The semi-staged presentation will be enhanced by JUNK’s unique blend of choreography and physical theater. The concert is being offered on-demand through Thursday. To learn more, look online at philorch.org.

On Sunday at 3 pm EST, Clipper Erickson will present the next of his “Music for the Soul” concerts. Titled “Chopin in Context: The Women Before and After,” the program will position music by the Romantic keyboard master as part of a continuum that will also include works by Cécile Chaminde and Maria Szymanowska. For tickets and information, click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chopin-in-context-the-women-before-and-after-music-for-the-soul-tickets-141160046499

Also on Sunday, at 4 pm EST, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra will offer a late afternoon of music for strings by Puccini and Respighi. In addition, guest harpist Alexander Boldachev will play works by Smetana and Piazzolla, along with some of his own improvisations. The concert will be made available on-demand for PSO ticket-holders for a period of a week. To learn more, visit princetonsymphony.org.

On Wednesday, the PSO will post the last of a four-part series of videos devoted to Bach’s “The Musical Offering.” The work is performed by PSO musicians, with Assistant Conductor Nell Flanders providing the fascinating introductory material for each segment. The series is being offered free, with Segments 1 through 3 already posted at the PSO website, again princetonsymphony.org. Enjoy them at your leisure.

Have a great, musically-nourishing weekend. We’ll be out of this soon. Keep dreaming the impossible dream!

March 5, 2021
Villa-Lobos Stravinsky Feud Brazilian Music

A day after sharing Igor Stravinsky’s observation that Vivaldi composed the same concerto 500 times comes this barb about his great Brazilian contemporary, Heitor Villa-Lobos: “Why is it whenever I hear a piece of music I don’t like, it’s always by Villa-Lobos?”

MEE-OW!

To further agitate the catty Stravinsky, here’s the symphonic poem “Uirapuru,” named for a Brazilian bird. In short, it’s another one of Villa-Lobos’ folkloric rainforest pieces.

Happy birthday, HVL!

Villa-Lobos and friend

March 5, 2021
Ruth Gipps Centenary Symposium International Women’s Day

Somehow, I missed the centenary of the birth of Ruth Gipps (1921-1999), pupil of Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose music I programmed with pleasure while at WWFM. Oh, how I look forward to the day I’ll be allowed back into a studio to put together new shows pertaining to landmark anniversaries. So many of these have slipped by over the Year of Covid.

Had I a live air shift on February 20, no doubt I would have realized it was Gipps’ 100th birthday. Be that as it may, there is another way to honor her. On Monday – International Women’s Day – scholars and musicians will convene for an online symposium centering on Gipps’ life and works. The hour-long stream will begin at 12:45 pm EST. Registration is required. A donation is suggested. You’ll find more information here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ruth-gipps-a-centennial-symposium-tickets-141989499415?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=esfb&utm-source=fb&utm-term=listing&fbclid=IwAR0H5SFWHlxmNSJKOZK5Xah0Wd7PPr75AHFyZv5kk2r2f3gsenUi4CBzo14

At 26, Gipps became the youngest English woman ever to receive a doctorate in music. Her mastery of both the oboe and piano suggested a promising future as soloist in virtuoso concert works. However, a shoulder injury, suffered in her early 30s, caused her to shift her focus primarily to composition. Along the way, she also founded two orchestras and directed a choral ensemble.

Her tone poem, “Knight in Armour,” was performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 1942. Despite early success, she encountered resistance in a field dominated by men. No doubt this contributed to her steely resolve. She was tenacious. Some also found her off-putting.

In all, she left five symphonies, a respectable number of concertos and concertante works, chamber and instrumental music, and choral pieces. Hopefully, we’ll get to hear more of them soon.

Register for the symposium. Then take 24 minutes to enjoy Gipps’ multifaceted Symphony No. 2 (1945):

March 5, 2021
Star Trek’s Apollo Ancient Astronauts & More

“Bones, could you get that excited over a cup of coffee?”

I know I could!

But it would be hubris, on a show about Apollo, to make it all about me.

Join us tomorrow night, on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, as our focus will be on the original “Star Trek” second season episode “Who Mourns for Adonais?”

A being who claims to be the Greek god Apollo captures the Enterprise and demands that its crew remain on his planet to worship him. Is this proof that ancient astronauts were here?

The discussion will serve as preamble to a conversation with Michael Forest, who played Apollo in the show in 1967. What’s 54 years to Apollo? Forest will be Roy’s guest this Sunday evening, when he’ll share some of his “Trek” recollections and talk about his career.

For tomorrow night, it will a toga party of two, when Roy and I wonder “Who Mourns for Adonais?” We’ll be watching for your deus ex machina in the comments section, as we live-stream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST.

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

March 4, 2021
Vivaldi’s Operas Beyond The Four Seasons

For those who share with Igor Stravinsky the opinion that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 500 times, have you considered checking out his operas? Here’s a live performance of “Orlando Furioso,” complete with “upstanding” harpsichord-playing by its conductor.

A good time, with plenty of eye candy, but when it comes to English subtitles, you’re on your own.

I suppose you could always just crack open your Ariosto. Seriously, I’m sure you can find a libretto, or at the very least a synopsis online. If you’re a fan of Baroque opera, you probably know the story anyway. It’s been set by everyone, though Handel’s version is probably the most famous.

This strikes me as a decent intro:

124. Orlando furioso (Vivaldi)

Music for all seasons by the composer of “The Four Seasons.” Buon compleanno, Antonio Vivaldi!

PHOTO: Kindly do not touch the hippogriff!

March 4, 2021

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