Last week was a really a crazy one for me. I had to so much to do in an abbreviated amount of time (since everyone had off on Friday, in anticipation of the holiday) and the madness only intensified yesterday, since not only was it the Fourth of July, but it was my birthday. And on my birthday, it’s never just about me. Because there are family obligations and entertaining to be done. And c’mon, it was America 250! However, my entire life it’s been like that, more or less. Never be born on a holiday! But at least I’ve always got off work. All the same, I’m always glad whenever the festivities are over and we can all just get back to our own routines.
I wasn’t even able to finish everything I *needed* to get done, so of course I neglected to promote a special marathon of American music that was broadcast yesterday of WHRB, the radio station of Harvard University. Every year, my friend Mather Pfeiffenberger makes the trek back to his alma mater to share a special Fourth of July program, and this year was set to be a doozy. Unfortunately, Mather wound up being stuck in D.C., but he was able to enlist a trusted colleague, Jonathan Lehrich, to share his thoughtfully curated playlist and some of his insights into the music.
I only got to catch a little of it yesterday, but I must say, the selections I heard were exceptional, and many of them are things you will never hear on the radio – live concert recordings, historic documents of such vintage they would never be considered for air play anywhere else, and more – alongside interesting performances of certified American classics, some of them offered in alternative editions. Seriously, if you care about American classical music and you think you just can’t listen to another performance of “Victory at Sea” or the “Grand Canyon Suite,” do check this out. I know an awful lot, and there were things on this show I have never heard.
But how can I listen, you say, if the show was yesterday? Surely, we ALL can’t fit into Classic Ross Amico’s time-traveling DeLorean…
Well, you’re in luck, because the show is archived at the WHRB website for the next two weeks. Visit whrb.org, run your cursor over PROGRAMMING, and from the dropdown box select BROADCAST ARCHIVE.
Ignore any pop-ups and DO NOT click the box (if you get it) that reads ACTIVATE YOUR ACCOUNT TO START. I’m not sure if it’s actually affiliated with the station, or if it’s just a phishing scam. Either way, you don’t need to register. Simply click the box under BROADCAST ARCHIVE that says YESTERDAY (if you’re seeing this after Sunday, the box will read JULY 4). Then click 1:00 to start. The program ran from 1:00 to 10:00 p.m.
I am eager to hear it myself. Enjoy!
To learn more, here’s a link to Mather’s Facebook post about the broadcast:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0zt9jCsuZdjT7ZNAd4m1a8JyMQQ7zqMPwHSVjay8hKGWp4R4SaLFwbJcSNmpuMg4El&id=100093688583899
Tag: America 250
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Worthwhile American Music Marathon Archived for a Limited Time on WHRB
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250 Years of Independence, and All I Got Was “Picture Perfect”
Tomorrow is Independence Day, so it seems appropriate this week on “Picture Perfect” to treat the subject of music from movies related to the birth of our nation.
We’ll hear selections from the 2000 Mel Gibson film, “The Patriot,” in which slow-burning pacifist Mel is pushed too far by ruthless British officer Jason Isaacs and reverts to his bloody French and Indian War ways. By the end of the film, he is literally waving the flag to John Williams’ triumphant score.
Then we’ll hear a suite from the 1942 Jack Benny-Ann Sheridan fixer-up comedy, “George Washington Slept Here,” based on the play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman – not really about the Revolution, beyond the fact that the ramshackle Pennsylvania farm house purchased by a transplanted New York couple is alleged to have been a resting place for the Continental Army’s most famous general. The music is by Adolph Deutsch.
The 1985 film, “Revolution,” seemed to have everything going for it. The director was Hugh Hudson, whose “Chariots of Fire” was the big winner at the 1981 Academy Awards; its star was Al Pacino; and its composer was John Corigliano, who went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Symphony No. 2 and an Academy Award for “The Red Violin.” Yet “Revolution” bombed horribly – so horribly that Pacino gave up making movies for the next four years. James Galway plays the flute and pennywhistle on the film’s soundtrack.
Finally, we’ll hear music from the longest continuously-shown film in cinematic history, “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot,” created exclusively for the tourist attraction of Colonial Williamsburg. The film features future “Hawaii Five-O” star Jack Lord, and the score is by none other than Bernard Herrmann. Peppered with recognizable patriotic tunes from the Revolutionary era, the charming suite includes quotations from “Yankee Doodle” and the William Billings hymn “Chester.”
Stick a feather in your hat and call it macaroni. Then join me for “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX!
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Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
https://kwax.uoregon.edu
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PHOTO: George Washington wagers he can crack a walnut with his bare hand in “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot” -
By George! A New Documentary by H. Paul Moon
If you’re in DC or NYC, you’re in prime position to catch “By George: It All Comes Down,” a new film by H. Paul Moon for America’s Semiquincentennial.
On July 9, 1776, following the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, New Yorkers toppled a statue of King George III that stood in Bowling Green. Among other things, the statue was melted down into musket balls to defend the American cause.
You can learn more about this one-hour documentary and the context of its New York premiere (on July 9, 2026, 250 years to the day later), a special outdoor screening just about a stone’s throw from the former location of the actual statue, by following the link. If you’re interested, you’ll also be able to reserve a free ticket.
nyc.july9th.com
In the meantime, the film is showing in a special four-screen immersive version at Dupont Underground (beneath Dupont Circle), in Washington, DC. Hourly showings take place every hour on the hour, weekends through July 5.
You can learn more about that here:
dc.july9th.com
I know Paul has worked long and hard on this project. I’ve already reserved my spot at the Battery. I hope you will join me in supporting it!
Yet more information, with stills from the film, here:
https://zenviolence.com/bygeorge -
May Is for Music at the Raritan River Music Festival
Somewhere between the return of Catbird and the reopening of the public pool comes the 37th Raritan River Music Festival. The festival, curated by Laura Oltman and Michael Newman of the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo, gets a jump on the festival-heavy summer months with a series of May programs that honor, in one way or another, the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation. These will be presented over four concerts in historic venues located in New Jersey’s Hunterdon and Warren Counties.
Since it’s been a very busy week – chockful of everything except sleep, apparently – and I’m running on fumes right now, I’m going to turn it over to this encapsulation from the Raritan River Music website:
“This season RRM celebrates the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation. Many of our festival venues pre-date the American Revolution. The congregations of our churches were founded by people who were among the first European settlers in North America.
“So far from anything they had ever known, they fashioned a government and a culture separate from their origins, whose modern global appeal surely derives from the multiplicity of those who created it. A core mission of Raritan River Music is to embrace the creation and performance of new music from the New World and to build a recorded archive of these musical compositions – music that is as original, dynamic, and aspirational as our nation.”
Now back to me:
Duo Jalal will return to the festival with works for the striking (and bowed) combination of viola and percussion. The program, “Threads of Sound: Voices of American Composers,” will consist of new music by Kenji Bunch, Caroline Shaw, Dafnis Prieto, Kurt Rhode, and Dawn Avery. The concert will be performed at Historic Hunterdon County Court House, 71 Main St., in Flemington, on May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw’s music will also be represented on a concert by Trio Ondata, alongside works by Shostakovich, Haydn, and Chicago-born composer of Indian and Western classical music Reena Esmail. “American Mycelium: Explorations of the New World” will take place at Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church, 17 Greenwich Church Rd., in Stewartsville, on May 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Newman & Oltman will bring the “Greatest Hits of 1776,” as works by Haydn, Rossini, and Yankee tunesmith William Billings share a program with Early American-related works by Gaspare Spontini, Fernando Sor, and Stephen Jenks, along with an RRM commission, “Raritan Triptych,” by another Pulitzer Prize-winner, Paul Moravec. The concert will be held at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, 2 Race St., in Pittstown, on May 16 at 7:30 p.m.
The series will conclude with “Two by Two: Harpsichord Duets Across the Centuries” – music performed on two harpsichords by ARTEK, Gwendolyn Toth and Peter Sykes, with an emphasis on composers for the virginal, clavichord, harpsichord, and chamber organ in the late 1500s/early 1600s, the peak period of English exploration of the New World. The program will be given at Stanton Reformed Church, 1 Stanton Mountain Rd., in Stanton, on May 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Concerts will also be available for streaming.
Stick a feather in your cap, call it macaroni, and visit https://www.raritanrivermusic.org/!
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