Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Composer Deaths A WPRB Farewell

Jean-Baptiste Lully, also an accomplished dancer, injured his toe while pounding the floor with a heavy stick to mark time; the resultant infection killed him. Anton Webern violated curfew when he snuck out on his porch for a smoke and was shot by an American soldier. Ernest Chausson lost control of his bicycle and fatally slammed into a brick wall. Henry Purcell developed pneumonia after his wife locked him out of the house for coming home late after one too many pub crawls. Charles-Valentin Alkan reached for a copy of the Talmud, located on a high shelf, when the bookcase toppled, crushing him. Edward MacDowell, César Franck, and Maurice Ravel were all hit by cabs. Mieczyslaw Karlowicz was caught in an avalanche. Alexander Scriabin died of a septic carbuncle. Jean-Marie Leclair was found murdered in his room. Alessandro Stradella was set upon by unidentified assassins for being too much of a ladies’ man.

Face it – there is no good way to go, and it all ends badly.

This Thursday morning on WPRB, we bid farewell to “Classic Ross Amico” with a full playlist of music by composers who died horribly, either in accidents, through assassinations, from bizarre illnesses, or in otherwise outlandish fashion.

That said, the plan is not for me to leave WPRB entirely. It’s possible I’ll be taking over Sunday mornings, beginning on February 11, to kickstart an opera show or to inaugurate a program devoted to light music. If either one of these appeal, or if you have any other ideas, feel free to comment below.

In the meantime, we’ll pay our last respects, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. It finally has come down to music by “dead white males,” on Classic Ross Amico.

February 1, 2018
Classic Ross Amico’s Deadly Finale on WPRB

This Thursday morning on WPRB will be the series finale of “Classic Ross Amico.” And if I have to go, I’m taking everyone with me. We’ll have a full playlist of music by composers who died horribly, either in accidents, through assassinations, from bizarre illnesses, or in otherwise spectacular fashion.

Take heart! I won’t be leaving WPRB entirely. Listen for me on Sunday mornings, beginning on February 11, for something entirely fresh. Whether it will be an opera show or a program devoted to light music is still up in the air, so feel free to state your preference by leaving a comment below.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll join me for the bitter end, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll shudder at spectacular deaths of the (de)composers, on Classic Ross Amico.

February 1, 2018
Accordion Concert Preview on The Classical Network

If the accordion is your thing – or even if you think it’s not – I hope you’ll join me this Wednesday afternoon on The Classical Network for a visit from Robert Young McMahan.

McMahan, who is on the faculty of The College of New Jersey, is one of the foremost authorities on the instrument. He’ll drop by to talk about an upcoming concert that will take place this Saturday at Mayo Concert Hall in the TCNJ Music Building titled “Bellows and Bows: A Potpourri of Chamber Works for Violin, Cello, and Accordion.” The 8:00 program will include works by Lukas Foss, Johan Halvorsen, George Kleinsinger, Edward McQuire, Alberto Acosta Ortega, Mátyás Seiber, Jaroslav Vanĕc̆e, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and McMahan himself.

We’ll also get a taste of the accordion’s striking sonorities when applied to the classical repertoire. Join us for music and a brief conversation this afternoon at 4:00. It will certainly lend variety to a projected Schubert birthday celebration, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

January 31, 2018
Schubert’s Light & Shadow From Marlboro

When we think of the music of Schubert’s final year, what comes across most strikingly, perhaps, is the complexity of feeling. Sensitively modulated light and shadow – the unpredictable contrasts of major and minor, agitation and calm, ecstasy and depression – create a sensation not unlike that experienced when wisps of cloud sweep across the sun on a mild autumn day. We find it in the late piano sonatas; we find it in the transcendent String Quintet in C major. It’s a beauty so intense that it actually kind of hurts.

Every rule has its exception, of course, and on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” we catch Schubert in a comparatively light-hearted mood – which I think appropriate on the occasion of his birthday – with his Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D. 898. While the trio does venture into remote keys and has its share of turbulence, the overarching spirit is very, very far from the eerie resignation of “The Hurdy-Gurdy Man.” In fact, it’s a pretty happy piece. We’ll hear it performed at the 2008 Marlboro Music Festival by pianist Jonathan Biss, violinist David Bowlin, and cellist Marcy Rosen.

Then we’ll round out the hour with what might possibly have been the final music Schubert ever wrote. “The Shepherd on the Rock,” D. 965, on a text by Wilhelm Müller and Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, was composed barely a month before the composer’s death at the age of 31. The multi-sectional “lied” traverses a wide range of moods, as a shepherd listens to echoes from the valley below, grapples with his feeling of loneliness, and finds hope in the prospect of Spring and rebirth.

Marlboro veterans, soprano Benita Valente, clarinetist Harold Wright, and pianist Rudolf Serkin, set down a classic – indeed legendary – recording of the work in 1960. This live performance was captured at Marlboro nine years later. In the words of Rudolf Serkin, “An artistic achievement cannot and should not be repeated. Isn’t it a miracle that a performance never is the same?”

Get ready to share his wonder. It’s an all-Schubert hour, on this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

January 31, 2018
Haydn and Ravel at Kaufman Music Center

There will be no hiding from Haydn, and we’ll revel in Ravel, on today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, as we bring you another program from Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center. The award-winning Verona Quartet will perform Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 50, No. 1 “Prussian” (1787) and Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F major (1903).

Kaufman Music Center is located at 129 West 67th Street in New York City. The center is home to Merkin Concert Hall, as well as Lucy Moses School, a community arts school for all ages, and Special Music School, a K-12 public school for musically gifted children. Merkin’s Tuesday Matinee series presents rising stars from all over the world, which have won some the most prestigious international prizes and have delighted audiences on the stages of major concert halls both here and abroad.

The next program in the series will feature pianist Xuesha Hu. She will perform Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata, Samuel Barber’s Sonata in E minor, Mendelssohn’s “Scottish Fantasy,” and Liszt’s “Dante” Sonata. The concert will take place on February 6 at 2 p.m. You’ll find more information, including a complete schedule, at kaufmanmusiccenter.org.

Following today’s concert broadcast, I hope you’ll stick around for music by the late Finnish master Einojuhani Rautavaara, among my featured composers, between 12 and 4 p.m., on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Two gentlemen – and ladies – of Verona

January 30, 2018

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