Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Composers

Musicians Cigars and Father’s Day

“By the cigars they smoke, and the composers they love, ye shall know the texture of men’s souls.”

– James Galsworthy

PHOTOS: Great musicians enjoy a cigar on Father’s Day (even if some of them don’t have kids)

June 18, 2017
Musical Memorials for the Fallen Composers

War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin’.

Still, a great many brave soldiers laid down their lives in combat and numerous unfortunate civilians were collateral casualties. Join me this Thursday morning, in advance of Memorial Day, as we salute the musical dead of all countries.

We’ll hear music by composers who died too young: George Butterworth, André Caplet, Cecil Coles, Enrique Granados, Ivor Gurney, Frederick Septimus Kelly, Alberic Magnard, Rudi Stephan, and Anton Webern. We’ll also hear elegies for the fallen by Romeo Cascarino, Aaron Copland, Bernard Herrmann, Gustav Holst, Charles Ives, Maurice Ravel, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The morning’s highlight will be John Fould’s “A World Requiem,” scored for a mass of soloists, choristers, and orchestral musicians to rival those of Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand.” Composed between 1919 and 1921, the piece was conceived by Foulds as a memorial to the dead of all nations in the wake of the First World War. It was given its first performance at Royal Albert Hall on Armistice Night, November 11, 1923. It then lay in neglect for 80 years, until it was resurrected by Leon Botstein, who conducted the work’s revival at Royal Albert Hall on November 11, 2007. We’ll hear his recording, which was issued two months later on the Chandos label.

I hope you’ll join me for pieces of war and prayers for peace, Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Sleep is short, but memory is long, on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Ralph Vaughan Williams in uniform. His protégé, George Butterworth, honored with the Military Cross for acts of valor on the Somme, was killed by a German sniper at the age of 31.

May 24, 2017
Tchaikovsky & Brahms Best Frenemies

They were totally B.F.F. – Best Frenemies Forever.

Prior to their unexpected meeting, Tchaikovsky had confided to his diary, “I have played over the music of that scoundrel Brahms. What a giftless bastard!” Brahms reciprocated by falling asleep during Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, in the presence of the composer.

Here’s a first-hand account of the introduction of the fastidious Tchaikovsky to the acerbic Brahms, with a special appearance by Edvard Grieg and his wife, Nina – making this almost as incident-packed as the latest installment of “The Avengers.”

http://www.cmuse.org/tchaikovsky-and-brahms-it-is-fun-to-l…/

Surprise! They actually delighted in one another’s company. In fact, they liked one another so well, they decided to do it again. However, the two never could reconcile themselves to one another’s music. When asked what he thought of the piano trio Brahms had been rehearsing, Tchaikovsky intimated, “Don’t be angry with me, my dear friend, but I did not like it.”

Happy birthday, boys.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

May 7, 2017
Michael Haydn: Beyond Joseph’s Shadow

He ain’t heavy; he’s Haydn’s brother.

Though Johann Michael Haydn’s entrance into a musical career was eased by his yet-to-be-famous older brother, he very much earned a reputation on his own merits. Michael started out as an organist and chorister (gone to Vienna at age 8; employed as an organist there by age 12). It’s said that Michael was the brighter student of the two and that his singing was more admired.

In 1762, Michael arrived in Salzburg, where he rose through the ranks to become concertmaster and organist to Archbishop Sigismund Schrattenbach. In Schrattenbach’s service, he churned out over 360 compositions. The Haydns met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg. Naturally, his music made a great impression. What’s surprising, perhaps, is that their music made a great impression on him, as well.

For years, Michael’s Symphony No. 26 was misidentified as Mozart’s Symphony No. 37. Mozart had borrowed the work to perform in Linz. On another occasion, Mozart stepped up to fulfill one of Michael’s commissions (anonymously) when Michael was too ill to do so himself. When he came to write his Requiem in 1791, Mozart clearly remembered the requiem mass Michael had composed some 20 years earlier on the death of his employer.

For his part, Mozart’s father, Leopold, disapproved of Michael’s heavy drinking. Perhaps that only made him all the more appealing to his son.

Joseph Haydn also thought very highly of his brother’s music. He found his sacred works to be particularly effective, bearing an intimate and devotional stamp in contrast to his own more secular, monumental approach. At a point, Michael received a job offer from Joseph’s former boss, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, but he opted to remain in Salzburg. He would die there at the age of 68.

Join me this afternoon, as we honor the Haydn brothers, on this, Michael’s birthday (born in 1737). We’ll also have music of Luigi Cherubini on the anniversary of his birth (in 1760). In addition, there will be selections by Franz Liszt, William Mathias, Roberto Sierra, and others, between 4 and 7 EDT on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

FUN FACT: Franz Joseph and Johann Michael had a still younger brother named Johann Evangelist. He was a tenor, whom the family nicknamed Hansl (without the “e”).

IMAGES: Those talented Haydn boys, Michael (left) and Joseph

September 14, 2016
Composers and Koalas A Musical Encounter

Apropos of nothing – composers with koalas.

PHOTOS: (Counter-clockwise from top) Igor Stravinsky, Sir William Walton and Leonard Bernstein

Koala sings Mozart’s Requiem:

June 18, 2016

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