Classic Ross Amico

  • Classic Ross Amico Moves to Fridays on WPRB

    Classic Ross Amico Moves to Fridays on WPRB

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    Ross Amico
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    Tomorrow morning on WPRB, Classic Ross Amico will move to a new time slot: Friday from 6 to 11 ET. You’d think the difference of 24 hours wouldn’t be a big deal, but in order to reach my destination, I will travel by car, train, plane, bicycle, and even sun chariot.

    I hope you’ll join me as we enjoy musical evocations of all these modes of transportation, while moving to my new home on Friday mornings, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Put on your old clothes. We’ll be living out of boxes and ordering pizza for dinner, on Classic Ross Amico.

  • Mendelssohn Birthday Cello Sonata Performance

    Mendelssohn Birthday Cello Sonata Performance

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    Ross Amico
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    Mendelssohn’s birthday today (1809-1847). Yikes, within the span of a week, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn… Stop with the birthdays of the genius composers, already!

    Or sit back and smile to Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata No. 2, performed here by a couple of cheeseheads, at a festival with an unbeatable name:

    More about the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society here:

    http://www.bachdancinganddynamite.org/

  • Happy Groundhog Day Waiting for Spring

    Happy Groundhog Day Waiting for Spring

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    Ross Amico
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    4 responses

    Happy Groundhog Day!

    As you probably know by now, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, prognosticating an early spring. We’ll have 17 hours of blazing sunshine before you know it.

    I’d have posted earlier, but somebody was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay past deadline on his article. Come to think of it, my sick beard makes me look a little bit like this groundhog.

    Here’s Vaughan Williams’ “Folk Songs of the Four Seasons,” with its chorus “Early in the Spring” (following a prologue, “To the Ploughboy”).

  • Nielsen’s Inextinguishable Symphony Premiere

    Nielsen’s Inextinguishable Symphony Premiere

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    Ross Amico
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    It was on this date 100 years ago that an audience at the Copenhagen Musical Society was treated to the unusual experience of dueling kettle drums positioned at opposite sides of an orchestra. Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, “The Inextinguishable,” was given its premiere under the direction of its creator.

    Nielsen himself was responsible for the symphony’s nickname. Written against the backdrop of the First World War, the composer wished to express “the elemental will to live.” In the forward of the published score, he states, “Music is Life, and, like it, Inextinguishable.”

    At the climax of the piece, the thrilling clash of timpani gives way to a euphoric proclamation by the brass. Over strife and turmoil rises that which will endure. Nielsen, the eternal optimist, manages to convey that which is optimistically eternal.

  • Schubert Birthday Orchestrated Lieder

    Schubert Birthday Orchestrated Lieder

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    Ross Amico
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    Today is the birthday of Franz Schubert (1797-1828), one of the greatest of all art song composers. Thomas Quasthoff and Anne Sofie von Otter recorded a fascinating album for the Deutsche Grammophon label a number of years back, with Claudio Abbado conducting the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in orchestrations of Schubert lieder by other notable composers, including Brahms, Britten, Liszt, Offenbach, Reger and Webern.

    Here is Quasthoff performing two of Schubert’s most famous songs, “Erlkönig” (“The Erl-King”), as orchestrated by Reger, and “Ständchen” (“Serenade”), as orchestrated by Offenbach.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwfWtlrFkDU

    And Otter performing “Der Vollmond auf Bergeshöh’n” (“The Full Moon Shines on the Mountain Height”) from “Rosamunde,” in Schubert’s own orchestration, and “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”), as orchestrated by Britten.

    Nothing can match the originals, of course, but I, for one, feel fortunate to be able to enjoy these fascinating arrangements.

    Happy birthday, Franz Schubert!

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