Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

  • Support Classical Music Radio WWFM

    Support Classical Music Radio WWFM

    What kind of a price tag do you put on something of intangible worth? It’s the age-old conundrum of the value of art.

    Without getting into whether or not art is “good” for you or for your community (like spinach), consider for a moment what having classical music on WWFM has meant for the quality of your life. If you seriously feel it has done much to enrich your days and to give you solace or inspiration at all hours, then why not follow your heart – within the restraints of your budget, of course?

    Public radio isn’t here to break the bank. Ideally, if everyone who enjoys the service – an endangered one in an increasingly commercial, talk, and news-driven market – then there would be no danger of having this invaluable asset lost or compromised. We’ve already had to make some hard decisions in recent years in order to survive within our budget.

    If you’ve already given recently, thank you so much for your support – but if it’s been a year or more, how about it? Can you spare $20, $50, $120 for the station you love? $120 is just ten dollars a month. It may not seem like it would amount to much, but if even a few dozen people were to contribute, that’s quite a considerable chunk of change. If our entire listenership could be moved to be so generous, The Classical Network would one of the most well-off public radio stations in existence. But the reality is only a very small percentage of listeners give.

    Regardless of what attracts you to the station – Who’s your favorite composer or performer? What’s your preferred era or genre? Who’s your favorite host or what’s your favorite specialty show? – we like to think we offer something for everyone who cares about classical music.

    As you consider what you are able to do in order to help support our future, enjoy a day of wall-to-wall Mozart, as Alice Weiss (9 to noon), David Osenberg (10 to 2), Carl Hemmingsen (1 to 4), Michael Kownacky (2 to 6) and yours truly (4 to 6) share some of our favorites, in advance of the master’s 262nd birthday. (The actual anniversary is tomorrow.)

    Then stick around for “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, coming your way at 6 p.m. I’ve selected four recordings of scores by another one of classical music’s great musical prodigies, Erich Wolfgang Korngold. I’ll post a little more about that in just a bit.

    “Picture Perfect” kicks off a Friday evening of unique specialty shows and live concert material. Bill McGlaughlin brings you another edition of “Exploring Music” (and more Mozart) at 7; Carl Hemmingsen hosts a concert of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, with music by Respighi, Schulhoff, and Mendelssohn, at 8; Allan Kelly presents “Distant Mirror” at 10; and Lewis Baratz hosts “Well-Tempered Baroque” at 11.

    The Mozart celebration is already underway on WWFM – The Classical Network. Please show your support by calling 1-888-232-1212 or by contributing online at wwfm.org. We wouldn’t be here without your generosity. Thank you for your support!

  • Conductors Composing Beyond the Podium

    Conductors Composing Beyond the Podium

    The best conductors are more than just interpreters. They are partners in creation, who will secret mansions into existence from the mere blueprint of a score. Many have had experience creating such worlds from scratch. This Thursday morning on WPRB, we’ll focus on original compositions by artists that have become better known for their reputations on the podium.

    Skipping over, for the moment, musicians who have received plaudits as recognized composer-conductors (Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez), or those from the distant past (Felix Mendelssohn, Gustav Mahler), we’ll hear neglected music by Victor de Sabata, Antal Doráti, Sir Eugene Goossens, Otto Klemperer, Igor Markevitch, Jean Martinon, Paul Paray, André Previn, Evgeny Svetlanov, George Szell, and Wilhelm Furtwängler (on his birthday).

    Join me for original works by conductors who genuinely know the score, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. The conductors are always properly grounded, on Classic Ross Amico.

  • Furtwängler & Conducting Composers on WPRB

    Furtwängler & Conducting Composers on WPRB

    Wilhelm Furtwängler is one of those conductors who seems to inspire near-fanaticism in many of his admirers. Set up as the polar opposite of Arturo Toscanini, who loved to declare absolute devotion to the score (whether it happened to be true or not), Furtwängler took what was on the page as the mere foundation on which to erect towering cathedrals in the sound.

    This Thursday morning on WPRB, we’ll get to hear what happens when the architect and builder happen to be the same, as Wilhelm Furtwängler conducts his Symphony No. 2. We’ll enjoy it on the anniversary of Furtwängler’s birth.

    In addition, there will be original compositions by other musicians best recognized by posterity as conductors – people like Antal Doráti, Otto Klemperer, Igor Markevitch, Paul Paray, André Previn, Evgeny Svetlanov, and George Szell.

    I hope you’ll join me, as conductors compose themselves, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. The composers’ conduct will definitely be most becoming, on Classic Ross Amico.

  • Schoenberg’s Serenade: Tradition & Tone

    Schoenberg’s Serenade: Tradition & Tone

    Don’t call him revolutionary. He didn’t care for that. Arnold Schoenberg did not see himself as a troublemaker. Rather, if you could bring yourself to ask him, he might have described himself as a traditionalist who was merely extending the legacy of an inherited past. Then he might have painted your portrait or challenged you to a game of tennis.

    On this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” we’ll hear Schoenberg’s Janus-like Serenade, Op. 24. Sure, the Serenade contains the first published example of Schoenberg’s twelve-tone method to employ multiple instruments (and human voice): a setting of Petrarch’s Sonnet No. 217, according to the composer, always so concerned with precision. In actuality, it’s the Sonnet No. 256, if we’re to go by the standard Italian edition of the poet’s works, but who’s counting?

    The other five movements push tonality beyond the breaking point, true, but they are not “twelve-tone.” If you find yourself hanging on by your fingernails at the seeming lack of identifiable landmarks, it might be better for you to just let go and allow all the colors to wash over you. Schoenberg employs, in addition to a vocal basso in the three-minute Petrarch setting, B-flat and bass clarinets, mandolin, guitar, violin, viola, and cello.

    The composer looks back to classical form through the use of repetitions in the opening “March,” the second movement “Minuet,” and the fifth movement “Dance Scene.” There is also a seeming affirmation of the past through the deliberate choice of Petrarch as a source of inspiration for the fourth movement “Sonnet.” The third movement is a set of “Variations,” and the sixth a “Song (without Words).” A “Finale” caps the piece,” which, by Schoenberg standards, is fairly light and easygoing.

    We’ll hear a performance from the 1966 Marlboro Music Festival, with Leon Kirchner directing the ensemble. Coincidentally, today is Kirchner’s birthday.

    To round off the hour, we’ll also have a delightful work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – his Sonata in B-flat for Bassoon and Cello, K. 292. The 1975 performance will feature bassoonist Alexander Heller and a 19 year-old cellist named Yo Yo Ma.

    Ma plays Mozart, and we take a shine to Schoenberg, on the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

    Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

    Arnold Schoenberg: music’s menace loved his tennis

  • Zhou Tian Grammy Nominee on WWFM

    Zhou Tian Grammy Nominee on WWFM

    Coming up in the 3:00 hour, it’s one more chance to catch Zhou Tian’s Concerto for Orchestra in advance of this Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremony. Zhou’s piece is nominated in the category of Best Contemporary Classical Composition. We’ll hear the world premiere recording of the work, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Zhou was in Princeton last year for the U.S. premiere of his work, “Broken Ink,” with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra.

    Prior to the airing of his Concerto for Orchestra, we’ll enjoy “An Exaltation of Larks” by one of his teachers, Philadelphia composer – and Pulitzer Prize winner – Jennifer Higdon. The work was written for the LARK Quartet (“exaltation” is the term for a collection of larks) of which Princeton Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Basia Danilow is a member.

    Join me at 3:00 EST for an hour of outstanding contemporary music, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

    Zhou Tian with Basia Danilow of the PSO and the Lark Quartet

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