Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Benjamin Britten

English Documentary Music: Vaughan Williams & More

It’s not that I don’t have any commercial sense; I just don’t care. If I were in it for the money, I’d be in another line of work. Anyway, if it moves me or interests me, I am pretty sure it will interest some of you. After all, what could be more engaging than an hour of… ENGLISH DOCUMENTARY MUSIC?

This week on “Picture Perfect,” though perhaps not exactly by popular demand, we’ll listen to four examples of such scores.

In England, unlike in the United States, there is no demarcation between “film composer” and “concert composer.” What is often regarded here as “hack work,” is seen there as just another aspect of what it means to be a working artist. There is no disgrace in a composer earning a living, and some of the nation’s greatest musicians – including those in the employ of the Royal Family – have contributed finely-crafted works to its body of cinema.

With this in mind, we’ll hear music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, from “The People’s Land” (1942), Benjamin Britten, from “The King’s Stamp” (1935), William Alwyn, from “The Green Girdle” (1941), and Sir Arthur Bliss, from “The Royal Palaces of Britain” (1966). All four films are patriotic utterances on distinctly English themes.

You may not have seen any of the movies, but the music is beautiful. I hope you’ll join me for selections from English documentaries, this Friday evening at 6 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

The complete documentary short, “The People’s Land,” is posted on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpRtM8FcBb4

As is “The Green Girdle:”

And “The King’s Stamp”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gSsJHlLFg4

Thank you, Internet!

PHOTO: It’s not about what you think

October 6, 2017
Saint Nicholas Day History Music and More

December 6 is the Feast of Saint Nicholas.

The historical and legendary Nicholas, fourth century Bishop of Myra, is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, travelers, brewers, prisoners, prostitutes, Russia, and of course children. THAT Nicholas is celebrated for his secret acts of charity, even if he could be rather short-tempered and a bit severe. Nicholas is said to have punched a few heretics, on occasion.

One famous episode tells of Nicholas saving three daughters of a poor man from a life of prostitution by tossing bags of gold down their chimney, thereby providing them with proper dowries. The episode is reflected in the familiar pawnbrokers’ symbol of three gold spheres suspended from a bar (and also the practice of hanging stockings by the chimney with care).

In another legend, three boys are slain by a butcher, chopped up and pickled in brine, with the goal of passing them off as ham. Nicholas restores the youths, and the butcher repents. The episode forms the basis of “Nicolas and the Pickled Boys,” from the cantata “Saint Nicolas,” by Benjamin Britten. I’ll be playing it this afternoon, sometime after our noon concert.

We’ll also hear the musical equivalent of Clement Moore’s conception of St. Nick in the “Santa Claus Symphony,” by 19th century Philadelphia composer William Henry Fry.

Today’s edition of “The Classical Network in Concert” will feature the Manhattan Choral Ensemble, in a program titled “Noel: Christmas in France.” It was recorded live last December at the Church of St. Jean Baptiste, East 76th Street and Lexington Avenue, in New York City. The ensemble’s next set of concerts, “A Russian Christmas,” will take place on December 9, at 8 p.m., and December 11, at 3 p.m., at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church, 288 East 10th Street, also in NYC. You can find out more at the choir’s website, http://www.mce.nyc.

I hope you’ll join me for Christmas and more (or Moore, as the case may be), from 12 to 4:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

IMAGES: The original “Bad Santa” (left); with Thomas Nast’s reinvention, after Clement Moore

December 6, 2016
Britten’s Carols Analyzed with Kapilow & Choir

What makes it great? Benjamin Britten, The American Boychoir, and Rob Kapilow musician. All three will join for a one-of-a kind event this Monday evening at 7 p.m. at Nassau Presbyterian Church, as performers and presenter parse out Britten’s beloved “A Ceremony of Carols,” followed by a complete performance of the work directed by Fernando Malvar-Luiz.

What Kapilow, host of the long-running program “What Makes It Great?,” does can hardly be described as lecturing.

“It’s an unusual kind of evening designed to get people to hear music in a different way, to get them involved in music in a different way,” he says. “The whole idea of ‘What Makes It Great?’ is to invite people into an evening designed to really get them inside a piece of music, from the composer’s point-of-view, to see what makes it tick. There’s an hour of discussions and demonstrations with the choir, with the audience singing as well, you know, so that when they do hear the complete performance after intermission, they’ll hear it with new ears. That’s really the goal. And then, of course, they get to ask anyone a question – me, the conductor, the choir, the kids, whatever they want.”

“What Makes It Great?” has undergone a gradual evolution over the past two decades, from its beginnings as a brief segment on NPR’s “Performance Today” to its current format of a two-hour commentary-with-concert event. Monday’s appearance is sponsored by WWFM – The Classical Network, the current producer of the radio broadcasts. WWFM can be heard locally at 89.1 FM and globally at wwfm.org.

“A Ceremony of Carols” will be heard in a somewhat different guise on The American Boychoir’s popular “Home for the Holidays” concert. That program will be present at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium on Dec. 18 at 4 p.m.

Find out what distinguishes the two in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/11/classical_music_rob_kapilow_am.html

December 2, 2016
Peter Grimes at Princeton Festival

“Write what you know” is the frequently dispensed advice to young writers. It could just as easily apply to composers, especially if the composer happens to be Benjamin Britten.

Britten was born in a Suffolk fishing port in 1913. The sights and sounds of the sea were in his blood. Powerful musical evocations of the sea pervade his opera, “Peter Grimes,” which was given its premiere in 1945.

Additionally, the burden of adhering to his principles as a conscientious objector during the war and a lifelong struggle to remain to true to himself as a homosexual in an intolerant world likely informed his sympathetic portrayal of a tortured outsider hounded by an insular coastal community.

Britten’s emotionally complex masterpiece is this year’s opera offering from The Princeton Festival. Performances will take place at McCarter Theatre Center’s Matthews Theatre on Saturday at 8 p.m., June 23 at 7:30 p.m., and June 26 at 3 p.m.

Discounting the popular (though lighter-weight) collaborations of W.S. Gilbert & Sir Arthur Sullivan, “Peter Grimes” was the most successful opera to emerge from England in the 250 years since the death of Henry Purcell in 1695. “Grimes” is worlds away from “H.M.S. Pinafore.”

Read more about the opera and the Princeton Festival’s exciting new production in my interview with stage director Steven LaCosse in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/06/classical_music_peter_grimes_a.html

Britten’s masterful “Four Sea Interludes” from “Peter Grimes”:

PHOTO: Britten at Aldeburgh, the Suffolk coastal town where he founded his festival of music and the arts in 1948

June 17, 2016
Peter Grimes at McCarter This Weekend

Ahoy! Benjamin Britten’s “Peter Grimes” drops anchor at McCarter Theatre Center this Saturday night at 8:00, for a run of three performances. We’ll be joined on-air at 10:00 this morning by stage director Steven LaCosse, who will tell us all about this exciting new production from The Princeton Festival. We’ll also listen to some excerpts from the opera.

For the rest of the morning, we’ll elaborate on oceanic themes, with music evocative of tall ships, sea shanties, the life aquatic, and the many moods of the sea.

We’ll share the catch of the day until 11:00 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

PHOTO: Britten (center) and Peter Pears (right) prepare for a BBC film of “Peter Grimes”

June 16, 2016

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