• Frankenstein Film Music for a Monster Weekend

    Frankenstein Film Music for a Monster Weekend

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    Long week? Feel like you’re coming apart at the seams? Kick off your elevator shoes and relax with an hour of music from Frankenstein films!

    This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll honor the legacy of Mary Shelley’s cautionary tale, “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.” The influential novel first saw print in 1818 – 200 years ago. Although the film adaptations tend not to be very faithful to their alleged source material, there is no denying “Frankenstein’s” enduring appeal. We’ll hear music from just a few of the dozens of films that have been made in the hundred years or so since the Thomas Edison version, all the way back in 1910.

    “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) is the “Godfather Part II” of Frankenstein films. One of the greatest sequels ever made, “Bride” manages to deepen and expand elements of the Boris Karloff original. Both were directed by James Whale. Sporting a terrific cast, plenty of atmosphere, a wry sense of humor, and abundant pathos, it also happens to feature one of the finest music scores of the era, composed by Franz Waxman.

    Say what you will about Hammer Studio’s more lurid approach to its monster franchises, with their Technicolor gore and false whiskers. What the films lacked in budget, they certainly made up for in creativity. In “Frankenstein Created Woman” (1967), Peter Cushing yet again plays the overweening doctor, who transplants the soul of his wrongly condemned assistant into the body of a suicide, his assistant’s lover. Together, soul and body, the two enact revenge on the young woman’s father’s actual murderers. Don’t try to figure it out; just go with it. The music was by Hammer house composer, James Bernard.

    “House of Frankenstein” (1944) is the sixth film in Universal Studios’ “Frankenstein” franchise, a follow-up to “The Ghost of Frankenstein,” but also a sequel of sorts to “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.” A mad scientist (“Frankenstein” veteran Karloff) and his hunchback assistant resurrect “the monster,” Dracula, and the Wolfman, beating “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948) to the punch! The music is also a monster mash of sorts, co-composed by Hans J. Salter and Paul Dessau.

    Mel Brooks’ super duper parody, “Young Frankenstein” (1974), plays with genuine affection on the Universal classics. The result is the richest comedy Brooks ever filmed. The love of detail extends even to the use of some of the authentic laboratory equipment from the original movies. Composer John Morris’ score reflects the underlying pathos of the monster, in brilliant counterpoint to the onscreen comedy. That’s FRANCKEN-SHTEEN!

    Finally, “Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’” (1994) was promoted as the most faithful adaptation of the original novel – which it most certainly is not. It does retain the rarely-used framing device, and the creature, played by Robert De Niro, is intelligent and articulate, as he is in the book, but so rarely on film. However, director Kenneth Branagh and his team can’t resist juicing up the story with lurid thrills and plot twists that seem more like cast-offs from Hammer. Favorite scene: a bare-chested Branagh swings on chains while bringing life to De Niro through the use of electric eels(!). The equally over-the-top score is by Patrick Doyle.

    “Frankenstein” has proven itself as indestructible as its alleged monster. Jump-start your weekend with revivifying music straight to the neck-bolts. It’s all-Frankenstein, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.


  • Skeleton on the Rock Obscure Schubert Gem

    Skeleton on the Rock Obscure Schubert Gem

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    Not to be outdone by Franz Schubert. Why is it not better known? “The Skeleton on the Rock” for voice, piano and banjo.


  • Licorice Sticks Beethoven Dutilleux at Marlboro

    Licorice Sticks Beethoven Dutilleux at Marlboro

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    I hope you’re in the mood for some licorice stick. On this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” our program will be bookended by two works for clarinet trio.

    For Darius Milhaud, as a member of that loose collective known as “Les six,” tomfoolery and high-spirits were a matter of course. Milhaud’s Suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, composed in 1936, revisits material from incidental music written for Jean Anouilh’s play “Le Voyageur sans bagages” (“The Traveler without Luggage”). The play deals with an amnesiac World War I soldier attempting to reestablish his identity. Milhaud might seem like an unlikely source for such a serious subject – but then the drama turns out to be a comedy!

    The piece falls into four movements: “Ouverture;” “Divertissement;” “Jeu” (literally “Game”); and “Introduction et Final.” We’ll hear it performed at the 1971 Marlboro Music Festival by violinist Marilyn Dubow, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and pianist David Effron.

    All things considered, Beethoven tended to be a little more severe than Milhaud. If there is play in his music, it is the play of a cat, pursuing a musical idea relentlessly, batting it around, adopting an air of calm, and then tearing off its appendages and hammering it through the floorboards.

    Even if that is not your idea of a good time, there is plenty to smile about in his Trio in B-flat, Op. 11. Sometimes identified by the nickname “Gassenhauer,” the work borrows a theme for its third movement set of variations from the drama giocoso (literally, drama with jokes) “L’amor marinaro ossia il corsaro” by Joseph Weigl. Weigl, by the way, was Haydn’s godson.

    “Gassenhauser” denotes a certain kind of popular music, a tune picked up by your average man in the street, and sung or whistled oblivious to its origins. The melody was so well-known, in fact, that it was also treated by Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Niccolo Paganini, among others.

    You’ll sometimes hear the trio performed with a violin in place of the clarinet – the cello is also sometimes swapped out for a bassoon – but for our purposes this evening we’ll go with the distinctive timbres of the sanctioned version for clarinet trio. Again, Richard Stoltzman will be the clarinetist, alongside cellist Alain Meunier, and pianist (and Marlboro co-founder) Rudolf Serkin.

    In between, we’ll experience something completely different. Henri Dutilleux meticulously crafted his seven-movement string quartet, “Ainsi la nuit” (Thus the Night), between 1973 and 1976, after intensive studies of the works of Beethoven, Bartok, and Webern, and a series of preliminary sketches he called “Nights.” All the hard work certainly paid off – the quartet was embraced as a modern masterpiece – though, to my ears, I’ve yet to find any humor in it.

    We’ll hear a performance from Marlboro in 2001. Joseph Lin and Harumi Rhodes will be the violinists, Richard O’Neill the violist, and Marcy Rosen the cellist.

    It’s said that licorice is very good for the digestion. You’ll find plenty to chew on, on this week’s “Music from Marlboro. Join me this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

    Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page


  • Hear the Difference Classical Music Matters

    Hear the Difference Classical Music Matters

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    Can you hear the difference?

    At The Classical Network, we’re proud to offer programming and musical selections unlike what you often hear at other stations – and our listeners have told us that makes us stand out.

    As we move toward our Fall Membership Campaign, we’re asking you, our listeners, to “Hear the Difference,” and to take a moment to tell us what exactly it is that you love about WWFM, and what it is that makes us different.

    Send us your thoughts by heading over to our website at wwfm.org and clicking on the “Hear the Difference” box at the top upper right corner of the screen. Type your comments into the box, then hit submit, and we’ll share them next week, as we encourage other listeners to step up and join you in support of the great – and unique – classical music programming we provide every day on The Classical Network.

    And if your membership is up for renewal, please take a moment to renew your commitment by going to wwfm.org and clicking on “donate.”

    As always, thank you for supporting WWFM – The Classical Network.


  • Bach & Beyond with The Dryden Ensemble

    Bach & Beyond with The Dryden Ensemble

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    Ah! Few things are as warming in the middle of a school day as a “Bach’s lunch” – especially when it has been packaged so lovingly.

    Join me for today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, when we’ll present “Bach & Beyond,” with The Dryden Ensemble. On the menu will be music by George Philipp Telemann, Johann Gottlieb Janitsch, Johann Christian Bach, and Johann Sebastian Bach himself. The only thing missing will be a note from Mom.

    The Dryden Ensemble’s Bach Cantata Fest will be presented on two concerts this weekend: on Saturday, October 20, at 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 6587 Upper York Road, in Solebury, PA; and on Sunday, October 21, at 3 p.m., at Miller Chapel, on the campus of Princeton Theological Seminary.

    The program will include the Cantatas 87 and 154, with selected Bach arias performed by mezzo-soprano Kristen Dubenion-Smith, tenor Jason McStoots, and baritone William Sharp.

    The Dryden Ensemble is made up of artistic director Jane McKinley and Julie Brye, oboes; Vita Wallace and Dongmyung Ahn, violins; Andrea Andros, viola; Rebecca Humphrey, cello; Motomi Igarashi, double bass; Daniel Swenberg, theorbo, and Webb Wiggins, chamber organ, all performing on period instruments.

    The ensemble will continue its celebration of Bach on November 10 at 3 p.m. with a Bach organ recital performed by Jacob Street at Miller Chapel on the Princeton Theological Seminary campus. On January 19 & 20 the group will present “Queen Christina Goes to Rome,” a theatrical program featuring two acclaimed actors. The season will conclude on April 6 & 7 with Musica Stravagante and glorious music for oboe and strings by Albinoni, Vivaldi, Biber, Bach, and others. Tickets and information are available at drydensensemble.org.

    Following today’s broadcast concert, stick around for the Symphony in B flat by Alexander Zemlinsky, a work written very much under the influence of Brahms and Dvořák. Zemlinsky’s style would evolve. Some of his mature works undoubtedly achieve greater distinction, but there’s something to be said for great tunes and abundant charm. He also happened to be the teacher of Arnold Schoenberg and Vienna’s great musical prodigy of the day, Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

    Korngold, of course, went on to become one of the great film composers. He applied the same romantic opulence that made his operas so successful to his work for the silver screen. His Piano Trio in D major, Op. 1, written at the age of 13, reveals him to be already in command of the distinctive musical language that would serve him so well.

    Schoenberg too wound up in Hollywood. He may have been the godfather of dodecaphonic music, but his neoclassical Suite for String Orchestra in G, his first piece composed in the New World, could almost be described as a charmer. This work “in the olden style” is wholly tonal and betrays the composer’s love of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

    I hope you’ll join me for Bach and beyond today. The lunch box doubles as a music box, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.


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