Classic Ross Amico

Lost Worlds Fantasy Film Scores Radio Show

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Ross Amico

June 10, 2016

in Daily Dispatch

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This week on “Picture Perfect,” prepare to get “lost.” We’ll have an hour of music from fantasy films set in lost worlds.

In “King Kong” (1933), filmmaker and entrepreneur Carl Denham hires a ship to an uncharted island, known only from a secret map in his possession. There the crew discovers the titular gorilla and other outsized and should-be-extinct creatures. Kong is abducted from his natural habitat – and you know the rest. The composer, Max Steiner, pulls out all the stops. “Kong” was one of the first films to demonstrate how truly powerful an orchestral soundtrack could be.

Then we travel to the earth’s core, courtesy of Jules Verne, and “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1959). James Mason is the professor who leads the expedition. The film sports one of Bernard Herrmann’s most outlandish soundscapes, the orchestra consisting of winds, brass and percussion, but also cathedral organ, four electric organs, and an obsolete Renaissance instrument called the serpent. Watch out for that giant chameleon!

“One Million Years B.C.” (1966) is a guilty pleasure if ever there was one. Produced by Hammer, the studio that gave us all those repugnant yet somehow delicious Peter Cushing-Christopher Lee horror team-ups, the film features special effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen and an equally legendary fur bikini, worn by Raquel Welch. The music is by Mario Nascimbene, who wrote one of my favorite scores for Kirk Douglas, for “The Vikings.” We’ll be listening to the film’s climactic volcano sequence.

As he did with the Indiana Jones films, director Steven Spielberg turned to B-movie source material for his visual inspiration for “Jurassic Park” (1993), based on the novel by Michael Crichton. The herky-jerky dinosaur effects of yore are replaced by state of the art computer-generated effects, in the story of a safari park on a remote island gone wrong.

Sure, we’ve come a long way from Raquel Welch getting carried off by a pteranodon, but admit it, we all still want to see people fight dinosaurs. Instead of fudging history, now we can feel superior by fudging science. “Jurassic Park” plays on the most recent scientific thinking, with DNA extracted from mosquitoes trapped in amber, cloning, and the theory that dinosaurs were not lizards, after all, but rather birds. The music is by long-time Spielberg-collaborator, John Williams.

I hope you’ll join me for music for these “Lands That Time Forgot,” this Friday evening at 6 EDT, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.
Joan of Arc Music on WPRB with Richard Einhorn

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Ross Amico

June 9, 2016

in Daily Dispatch

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Right now on WPRB we’re listening to the gorgeous “Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc,” by Paul Paray.

Shortly after 9:00 this morning, we’ll be joined by composer Richard Einhorn. Einhorn’s oratorio, “Voices of Light,” will be performed tonight as part of a multimedia presentation, which will include a screening of the Carl Theodor Dreyer classic “The Passion of Joan of Arc” at Princeton University Chapel at 8:30 p.m. Soloists of Notre Dame Vocale and the Princeton Festival Chorus will join the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, beginning at 8:30 p.m.

Einhorn will give a free pre-performance talk at the Princeton Garden Theatre at 5 p.m. It’s all part of this year’s Princeton Festival. The Princeton Festival continues through June 26, with opera, jazz, musical theater, dance, choral, chamber and instrumental music. To learn more about it, visit princetonfestival.org.

During this morning’s visit to the WPRB studios, Einhorn will talk with us about his work on “Voices,” which has been performed over 100 times, recorded for the Sony Classical label by Anonymous 4, and issued as a bonus soundtrack on The Criterion Collection’s DVD release of the film. We’ll hear selections from the piece and sample from some of the composer’s other works.

Then at 11:00, our featured highlight will be Norman Dello Joio’s “The Triumph of Saint Joan.” It’s all music related to the Maid of Orleans this morning until 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.
Joan of Arc Music & Richard Einhorn on WPRB

by

Ross Amico

June 9, 2016

in Daily Dispatch

3 responses

This morning on WPRB, we bear the standard for Joan of Arc, with a suite from Tchaikovsky’s opera “The Maid of Orleans,” Paul Paray’s “Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc,” Norman Dello Joio’s “The Triumph of Saint Joan,” and more. We’ll also hear music inspired by the Hundred Years’ War, music evocative of the Middle Ages in general, and some authentic music of the period by composers like John Dunstable, Gilles Binchois, and Guillaume Dufay.

At 9:00, I’ll be joined by composer Richard Einhorn. Einhorn’s oratorio, “Voices of Light,” will be performed tonight, accompanying a screening of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 classic film “The Passion of Joan of Arc” at Princeton University Chapel at 8:30 p.m. The multimedia concert, which will feature soloists of Notre Dame Vocale, the Princeton Festival Chorus, and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, will begin at 8:30 p.m. Einhorn will give a free pre-performance talk at the Princeton Garden Theatre at 5 p.m. This event is certain to be one of the high points of this year’s The Princeton Festival. To learn more about it, visit princetonfestival.org.

During his morning visit to the WPRB studios, Einhorn will talk to us about his work on “Voices,” which has been performed over 100 times, recorded for the Sony Classical label by Anonymous 4, and issued as a bonus soundtrack on The Criterion Collection’s DVD release of the film. We’ll hear selections from the piece and sample from some of the composer’s other works.

Join us as we celebrate this Arc of triumph, from 6 to 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Satisfy your jones for Joan, on Classic Ross Amico.
Richard Einhorn Voices of Light on WPRB

by

Ross Amico

June 8, 2016

in Daily Dispatch

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Tomorrow morning on WPRB, I’ll have a very special guest in composer Richard Einhorn. Einhorn’s oratorio, “Voices of Light,” will be performed tomorrow night, to accompany a screening of the 1928 classic film, “The Passion of Joan of Arc,” that inspired it.

Performers will include soloists of Notre Dame Vocale, the Princeton Festival Chorus, and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. This extraordinary event, the result of a partnership between the Princeton Symphony, the Princeton Garden Theatre, and The Princeton Festival, will take place at Princeton University Chapel at 8:30 p.m. Einhorn will give a free pre-performance talk at the Garden Theatre at 5 p.m. For more information, visit princetonfestival.org.

We’ll do everything we can to set the mood for this special presentation of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s magnum opus – which sports a riveting performance by actress Renée Jeanne Falconetti – with a special on-air visit from the composer at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Einhorn will talk about his work on “Voices,” which has been performed over 100 times, recorded for the Sony Classical label by Anonymous 4, and issued as a bonus soundtrack on the Criterion Collection’s DVD release of the film. We’ll hear selections from the oratorio, as well as sample some of the composer’s other music.

For the remainder of the morning, we’ll honor Joan of Arc with music written to her memory, music inspired by the Hundred Years’ War, music evocative of the Middle Ages in general, and some authentic music of the period.

We get medieval, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. The stake is always well done, on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTOS: (clockwise from left): “Joan of Arc” by John Everett Millais; “Jeanne d’Arc,” gilded statue located in Philadelphia, by Emmanuel Frémiet; and Renée Jeanne Falconetti in “The Passion of Joan of Arc”
George Szell Birthday A Perfectionist’s Legacy

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Ross Amico

June 7, 2016

in Daily Dispatch

5 responses

Today is the birthday of George Szell (1897-1970). A notorious autocrat from an era when autocrats were tolerated, expected and even revered on the podium, Szell was a formidable perfectionist, even to the extent of lecturing the Severance Hall custodians on the acceptable way to mop a floor and what kind of toilet paper they should be supplying in the restrooms. Okay, he may have been a little tightly wound, but you can’t quibble with the results. Thank your lucky stars you didn’t have to work for him, but boy, could he conduct!

Szell’s benchmark modern orchestra Haydn:

While on tour with the Cleveland Orchestra in Tokyo, and with only two months to live (he was terminally ill with cancer), Szell conducted what very well may be the most thrilling performance of Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 I have ever heard, certainly on a par with the classic Barbirolli account with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra:

Szell as a Mozart pianist:

One of Szell’s own, early compositions, “Variations on an Original Theme”:

Szell speaks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INKhc-WM_eM