Happy birthday, Robert Moran, the only composer who’s had the wisdom to repeatedly top off my wine glass with chilled vodka in the middle of recording an interview at his home. Keep on flying high (over Albania)!
An aria from Bob’s opera “Desert of Roses”
Selections from “Trinity Requiem”
“Alice” for Scottish Ballet
Looking groovy and introducing his “Lunchbag Opera” for the BBC
“Buddha Goes to Bayreuth”
“Modern Love Waltz” by Philip Glass, arranged by Robert Moran for accordion and cello
Tragedy tonight! Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim has died.
The composer and lyricist credited with having reinvented the American musical was the recipient of every major honor, including nine Tony Awards, an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sondheim’s passing occurs only two weeks before Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” is set to introduce him to a whole new generation of fans. He was only 27 when he collaborated with Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents on the original 1957 production.
It was the beginning of a storied career that included music and lyrics for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” and “Into the Woods.” He also provided the words for Laurents’ “Gypsy,” with music by Jule Styne.
Following an early mentorship with Oscar Hammerstein II – whom he had known since the age of 10, since Hammerstein turned out to be his best friend’s father – he fell in with Princeton University’s total serialist Milton Babbitt, whom he described as “a frustrated show composer.” It was an unlikely pairing, but the two clicked. Together, they dissected everything from Rodgers and Hart to Mozart.
Sondheim’s uncanny facility with words – imbued with virtuosic wit, insight, and humanity – frequently added up to more than just a stunt lyric. In any case, he always regarded himself foremost as a composer. His revitalizing approach to the American musical theater made him the most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the second half of the 20th century.
David Amram, born in Philadelphia on this date in 1930, has always been equally at home in classical music, jazz, folk, and world music. The composer of over 100 orchestral and chamber works, music for Broadway and film (including the scores for “Splendor in the Grass” and “The Manchurian Candidate”), and two operas, he’s also the author of three books: “Vibrations: The Adventures and Musical Times of David Amram” (1968), “Offbeat: Collaborating with Kerouac” (2002), and “Upbeat: Nine Lives of a Musical Cat” (2007).
Amram was raised on a farm in Bucks County. There, he was introduced to classical, jazz, and cantorial music by his father and uncle. He took piano lessons and experimented with instruments of the brass family, finally centering on the French horn. Following a year at Oberlin, he lit out for George Washington University, where he studied history. While there, he performed as a freelance hornist with the National Symphony. He also studied privately with two musicians in the orchestra.
Amram became a pioneer of the “jazz French horn,” as well as the New York Philharmonic’s first composer-in-residence (designated such in 1966). He’s worked with artists ranging from Dizzy Gillespie to Bob Dylan to Leonard Bernstein, from Jack Kerouac to Arthur Miller, from Christopher Plummer to Johnny Depp. He’s a musician without borders, always open to new experiences.
At 91, Amram is still cookin’. He’ll be performing tonight in Newport, RI, celebrating his birthday with a concert of his chamber music, jazz, and folk compositions. On Friday, he’ll be in Tarrytown, NY, with his jazz quartet. On December 3, he’ll be playing with pianist Dick Hyman in Sarasota, FL. And on December 5, he’ll be in Manhattan for his annual “Amram Jam” – a program of jazz and classical chamber music, the instrumentalists joined by vocalists, songwriters, actors, poets, and dancers that’s anticipated to stretch into the wee hours of the morning.
For more information, check the Amram calendar at his website:
If you can’t be at tonight’s concert, you might do as he suggested last year, during “stay at home,” and just take a moment to send him an ESP thought-o-gram. Happy birthday, David Amram!
Today marks the birthday anniversaries of two able musicians who made their biggest reputations, for better or worse, in fields other than music.
When Henry VIII (1491-1547) wasn’t occupied in upgrading spouses or downgrading churches, he happened to be a skilled composer and performer. More about Henry and his music here:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) is best remembered as one of the great philosophers of the Enlightenment and a driving influence behind the French Revolution. But he was also a successful composer who wrote seven operas. The best-known of these is probably “Le devin de village.”
Undoubtedly fewer heads would have rolled had these gentlemen stuck to their music!
