No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
– John Donne
Remembering those we lost in 2017, until 11:00 a.m. EST on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com.
Great singers (Nicolai Gedda, Roberta Peters, Kurt Moll, Dmitri Hvorostovsky); notable conductors (Georges Prêtre, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Louis Frémaux, Jiří Bělohlávek); talented composers (Veljo Tormis, Francis Thorne, Gordon Langford, Godfrey Schroth); and outstanding instrumentalists (Gervase de Peyer, Paul Zukofsky, Zuzana Růžičková), including not one, but two concertmasters of the Berlin Philharmonic (Thomas Brandis, Rainer Kussmaul) – these are only some of those we lost in 2017.
This Thursday morning (and probably next) on WPRB, we’ll honor a good many artists who are no longer with us, but who, fortunately for us, left behind a wealth of recordings.
The focus will be on musicians who traded their instruments for the harp, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for Classic Ross Amico.
Well, it’s that time of year again. Time for some of us to examine all the ways we’ve screwed up our lives (hopefully not irreparably) and to resolve to do better in 2018.
More objectively, it’s also a time to remember all of those who have shuffled off this mortal coil.
Fortunately for you, if you join me this Thursday morning on WPRB, the emphasis will be on the latter, as we listen to recordings by some of the musicians who have enriched our world through their artistry.
Like last year, this one may turn out to be a two-parter. While it’s sad to reflect that so many talented individuals have moved on to the Great Concert Hall in the Sky, I am delighted to be able to share some of their wonderful, representative performances with you.
Join me in celebrating the artists we lost in 2018, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. It’s one of the few things left to celebrate this time of year, on Classic Ross Amico.
With the new year bearing down upon us, I can think of nothing more appropriate – indeed more necessary – than the energetic striving and eternal optimism of the finale of Mozart’s last symphony, the Symphony No. 41, subtitled the “Jupiter.”
Incredibly, Mozart composed the “Jupiter” along with the Symphonies Nos. 39 and 40 in a burst of sustained inspiration over the summer of 1788. Though he had nothing to do with the work’s lofty moniker, it is the composer’s longest symphony, and quite possibly his greatest.
Mozart’s magnum opus will be the main attraction on this week’s “Music from Marlboro.” The Marlboro Music Festival, of course, is renowned primarily as a retreat for some of the world’s most revered artists and promising young talent, who come together each summer to explore works from the vast chamber music repertoire. Every once in a while, though, many of the musicians assemble to perform an enduring orchestral masterpiece.
Leon Fleisher, himself a pianist and beloved teacher, was forced to diversify with the onset of focal dystonia, a chronic neurological condition that impaired the mobility of his right hand. He continues to achieve much – even to the point of reclaiming in recent years some of his former, two-handed piano repertoire. He will take up the baton, at the age of 87, to lead Mozart’s “Jupiter” in an inspirational performance from the 2015 Marlboro Music Festival.
The program will open with several part-songs, composed around 1801, by Mozart’s friend and sometimes mentor Franz Joseph Haydn.
“Alles hat seine Zeit” (Everything has its time) sets a text by Johann Arnold Ebert:
Live, love, drink, clamor,
Circle with me,
Enthuse with me when I enthuse,
I am wise with you.
Haydn’s setting of “Die Harmonie in der Ehe” (Harmony in Marriage), on a text of Johann Nikolaus Götz, includes an ironic discord on the word “harmony,” perhaps reflective of his own problematic union:
Oh, wondrous harmony, what he likes, she likes too,
He likes to drink, she too, he likes cards, she too,
He likes to fill his purse and to act like a great man. This is also her custom.
Oh, wondrous harmony.
Finally, “Abendlied zu Gott” (Evening Song to God), sets a text by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert:
Lord, You who have given me life
Up until this very day,
Child-like, I pray to You.
I am much too unworthy of the faithfulness that I sing of,
And that You grant me today.
The performances, from the 1976 Marlboro Music Festival, will feature soprano Claudia Visca, mezzo-soprano Constance Fee, tenor Michael Sylvester, bass John Paul White, and pianist Luis Batlle.
Haydn and Mozart give us the strength to endure 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
Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen. We all know the carol, which tells of the good king’s generosity – how he brought flesh and wine and fuel to a needy peasant, his faltering page literally treading in his master’s footsteps.
What the carol doesn’t tell us is that, with all the snow lying round about, deep and crisp and even, Wenceslas could pack a wicked snowball, as seen in this medieval fresco. Woe betided the lord or lady who caught one of the king’s frigid projectiles.
On this St. Stephen’s Day, the second day of Christmas, I hope that you too are continuing to enjoy your midwinter festivities. If you find yourself in the vicinity of a radio or are able to do a little online streaming, consider joining me for today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, which will consist of performances from the Lake George Music Festival.
On the program will be Ralph Vaughan Williams’ early Piano Quintet in C minor, from 1903 (revised 1905). The first movement strikes a Brahmsian tone, yet there are intimations in the slow movement of the world of Hubert Parry (Vaughan Williams’ teacher) and RVW’s contemporaneous song, “Silent Noon.” Interestingly, the composer would return to the theme of the finale, put here through five variations, fifty years later, in 1954, for another set of variations for the last movement of his Violin Sonata.
Also featured will be a brand new work – and a Lake George commission – by Philadelphia composer Sheridan Seyfried. His Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra was composed for the festival’s resident artists, brothers Nikki Chooi and Timothy Chooi. Seyfried, 32, is a product of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Manhattan School, where he studied with Richard Danielpour, Jennifer Higdon, and Ned Rorem.
Then stick around. Later in the afternoon, we’ll hear another highly listenable piece of new music by Kenji Bunch, 44 – his ballet, “The Snow Queen,” after Hans Christian Andersen. The recording, a two-CD set issued on innova Recordings, was made in Eugene, Oregon, by Orchestra NEXT. Orchestra Next gave the work its premiere in collaboration with the Eugene Ballet Company. Bunch, who is also a violist, studied at the Juilliard School. He has since returned to the land of his birth and now makes his home in Portland.
As the afternoon progresses, we’ll drop in a few more surprises for the season. It’s a feast of music for St. Stephen’s Day, this Tuesday from 12 to 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Detail from “Winter” (before 1407), by Master Wenceslas of Bohemia
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