Classic Ross Amico

  • Muta1206 Saxophone Star Wars Medley

    Muta1206 Saxophone Star Wars Medley

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    Ross Amico
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    5 responses

    Meet Muta1206. Muta specializes in saxophone overlays of anything from classical music to jazz to pop/rock to video games to genres I’ve never even heard of. To be clear, he plays all the parts of the arrangements himself. And his dogs love it. Here, to get you in the mood for the Oscars, is his performance of a medley from the “Star Wars” films (including “The Force Awakens”). “Star Wars,” of course, was named Best Original Score of 1977.

    Yet again, many thanks must go out to John Williams. Has there been another composer of the last 40 years who has done more to get young people interested in music?

    More with Muta here:

    https://www.youtube.com/user/muta1206

  • Oscar Music Special on WWFM

    Oscar Music Special on WWFM

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    Ross Amico
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    7 responses

    This week on “Picture Perfect,” join me for a special, two-hour edition, as we anticipate the 89th Academy Awards. We’ll hear selections from the five nominees for Best Original Score (“Jackie,” “La La Land,” “Lion,” “Moonlight,” and “Passengers”), alongside music from established, Oscar-winning classics, like “Lawrence of Arabia,” “The Godfather,” and “Gone with the Wind,” and more recent favorites, like “Titanic,” “The Lord of the Rings,” and “The Hateful Eight.”

    You supply the popcorn. I’ll cue the music, this Friday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

  • Kirill Gerstein Plays Liszt in Princeton

    Kirill Gerstein Plays Liszt in Princeton

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    Ross Amico
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    5 responses

    Pianist Kirill Gerstein will bring his transcendental technique to Princeton on Monday at 7:30 p.m., when he returns to McCarter Theatre Center with a recital that will include a selection of Franz Liszt’s “Transcendental Etudes.”

    “They are showpieces, but in a much broader sense,” Gerstein says. “One could really say that Liszt, despite his enormous popularity, in some way is very much still an underrated composer. I think a lot of listeners and even some colleagues are distracted and partly disturbed by the flamboyance of some of the writing. But it is just one aspect, and a relatively small aspect, when you look at his entire, prodigious output. He was a serious composer and a fundamental musical force that really affected the course of music history. Of course he has his moments of being a superstar and tossing off glitter, which is also fine and part of life, but I don’t think that he was superficial.”

    Gerstein has been touring the Etudes, with stops this month in Brussels, Liverpool and Vienna. He has recorded the entire cycle for the myrios classics label.

    His McCarter program will also include sonatas by Beethoven (including the “Moonlight”) and Brahms (the Sonata No. 2) and four duets by Bach. Princeton Emeritus Professor Scott Burnham will deliver a pre-concert lecture at 6:30.

    Gerstein will arrive at McCarter hot off a run of concerts with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark on Friday at 8 p.m., at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank on Saturday at 8 p.m., and at Mayo Performing Arts Center – MPAC in Morristown on Sunday at 3 p.m.

    On March 1, he’ll join the Hagen Quartett for Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor at Carnegie Hall. The Hagen Quartet will appear at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium on March 2 at 8:00 p.m., as part of the Princeton University Concerts series.

    Read more of Gerstein’s thoughts on Liszt’s ‘Transcendental Etudes’ in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

    http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2017/02/classical_music_kirill_gerstei.html

  • Handel Birthday Oops My Bad

    Handel Birthday Oops My Bad

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    Ross Amico
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    5 responses

    Well, I’ve got egg on my face. How could I, who own practically two shelves full of his operas and oratorios, do a five hour radio show and not salute George Frideric Handel on his birthday? The sad fact of the matter is that my head is full of arcane composer birthdays, but Handel’s is not one of them. So I apologize, Georg. It’s not quite belated yet, but too late to give you the kind of gift you deserve.

    I hope this overlaid saxophone quartet (with cute dogs) makes things better.

  • Black Composers on WPRB

    Black Composers on WPRB

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    Ross Amico
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    4 responses

    Florence Price’s “Mississippi Suite.” Joseph White’s Violin Concerto in F-sharp minor. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Symphonic Variations on an African Air.” David Baker’s “Three Ethnic Dances” for clarinet and orchestra. Adolphus Hailstork’s “Done Made My Vow.” George Walker’s “Piano Concerto.” Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown and Beige.”

    These are some of the pieces we’ll be listening to this morning, as we explore the diversity of music of the black experience, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll be serving your coffee black, on Classic Ross Amico.

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