• Poets on Film Movie Soundtracks & Scores

    Poets on Film Movie Soundtracks & Scores

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    Time to invest in some quills and some laudanum. This week on “Picture Perfect,” the focus will be on poets in the movies.

    We’ll have music from “Dead Poets Society” (1989), Peter Weir’s beautiful-but-vacuous take on the transformative powers of poetry, its “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” story arc made all the more poignant (and less cheap) by the passing of its beloved star, Robin Williams. Maurice Jarre, a long, long way from his Oscar-winning work on “Lawrence of Arabia,” wrote the music, which blends dulcimer and bagpipes (!) with electronics.

    At least “Dead Poets Society” found a place in the hearts of the public. “Lady Caroline Lamb” (1973) did not. Sarah Miles plays Byron’s jilted lover, the wife of future prime minister William Lamb. Despite an impressive cast, which includes Jon Finch, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Richard Chamberlain (as Lord Byron, no less), and direction by venerable playwright and screenwriter Robert Bolt (“A Man for All Seasons”), the film received mixed reviews and tanked at the box office. The always fine Richard Rodney Bennett provided the atmospheric score.

    “Il Postino” (1994) tells the story of a simple postman whose prosaic life is transformed through the power of metaphor. His model is the exiled Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, played in the film by Philippe Noiret. The film’s writer and star, Massimo Troisi, died of a heart attack twelve hours after shooting was completed, having postponed surgery until he finished work. He was 41 years-old. Argentinian-Italian composer Luis Bacalov’s bandoneon-tinged score was honored with an Academy Award for Best Music.

    Finally, we put a point on things with the rapier wit of “Cyrano de Bergerac” (1950). José Ferrer struts his stuff as the warrior-poet with the prominent proboscis, who never wants for words, save in the presence of his beautiful cousin Roxane. Ferrer elocuted – and fenced – his way to an Academy Award for Best Actor. The score is one of Dimitri Tiomkin’s finest, and we’ll hear a recording taken from the film’s original elements, under the crisp direction of the composer.

    It’s poetry in motion this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.


  • Massenet Fauré Birthday on WWFM Today

    Massenet Fauré Birthday on WWFM Today

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    Today is the birthday of two outstanding French composers: Jules Massenet (born 1842) and Gabriel Fauré (born 1845). Massenet’s fluency and emotionally direct style made him the most successful French opera composer of his generation. Fauré was the radical who blew the dust off the Paris Conservatory and ushered in an era of unprecedented reform.

    We’ll enjoy music by both this afternoon, along with a Divertimento by Sir Lennox Berkeley (born 1903) and works by Johann Baptist Wanhal (born 1739), who played string quartets with Haydn, Mozart and Dittersdorf, and Franz Anton Hoffmeister (born 1754), who published works by all four.

    “Picture Perfect” comes your way at 6. I’ll be posting more about that in just a bit. Suffice it to say, I’ll be your host from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM The Classical Network and wwfm.org.


    PHOTOS: Fauré (left) and Massenet enjoying a little fresh air


  • Nursery Rhymes Mother’s Day Music on WPRB

    Nursery Rhymes Mother’s Day Music on WPRB

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    Three Blind Mice. Old King Cole. Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-Eater. All nursery rhymes recollected from childhood.

    Join me Thursday morning on WPRB for music inspired by these and more – the children’s books “Peter Pan,” “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” and “Higglety Pigglety Pop!” and fairy tales of Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, and the Brothers Grimm – as we salute the contributions of Mother, in advance of Mother’s Day.

    We’ll find lots of sense in nonsense, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB and wprb.com. When I was a child, I understood as a child – and I still do, thanks to Mom, on Classic Ross Amico.


  • Mother’s Day Fairy Tale Music on WPRB

    Mother’s Day Fairy Tale Music on WPRB

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    It will be the mother of all Mother’s Day shows!

    Tell Mom to tune in to WPRB a few days early to enjoy a full playlist of music inspired by fairy tales, nursery rhymes, children’s books, and fables. Composers will include Daniel Dorff, Paul Hindemith, Gustav Holst, Libby Larsen, Anatole Liadov, Robert Moran, Josef Suk, Ernst Toch, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, among others.

    Wash behind your ears and wipe your feet before entering, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll remember Mama, on Classic Ross Amico.


  • Classical Music Birthdays Princeton Composers on WWFM

    Classical Music Birthdays Princeton Composers on WWFM

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    Our chests swell with local pride this afternoon, as we hear music by Princeton composers Steven Mackey, Paul Lansky, and Milton Babbitt (on his birthday). Then things turn all cinematic, as we sample from some classic film scores by two titans of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Max Steiner and Dimitri Tiomkin, also born on May 10. Maxim Shostakovich, whose birthday it is, will conduct music by his father, and we’ll enjoy music by Baroque violinist Jean-Marie Leclair, born on this date in 1697.

    That’s a lot of birthday cards to fill out, but we’ll manage, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.


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