Caffeinated Classics! Take a slug from the mug, perk up, and hit the grounds running with a stimulating, all-new Classic Ross Amico crossword, about caffeine and music. To fill it out, simply follow the link and select “solve online” at the bottom of the page:
https://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2020.04/2606/26063743.014.html
Once you feel you’ve exhausted the puzzle, you’ll find the solutions when clicking on “Answer Key PDF.”
PHOTOS: A gallery of composers at coffee and tea
No relation to Leonard Bernstein (or “Bern-STINE”), Elmer pronounced his surname “Bern-STEEN.” In the interest of clarity, the two were sometimes further differentiated as “East Coast Bernstein” and “West Coast Bernstein.” In this photo, we have a rare instance of East meets West.
ST. PATRICK’S MIXTAPE
It pains me not to be there with you all today. I love programming for holidays, and St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorites. Undoubtedly, I’ll be spinning wall-to-wall St. Patrick’s music at home. As a way of sharing some of it with you, here are some links to just a few of my favorites. You may be puzzled by the inclusion of composers like Handel, Beethoven, and Frank Martin, but everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day! A hoist of my Irish coffee to you!
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, “Irish Rhapsody No. 5”
Sir Hamilton Harty, “Three Miniatures for Oboe and Piano”
Edward Joseph Collins, Irish Rhapsody “Hibernia”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XykGEnuhiwc
Beethoven, “Irish Folk Songs’ (with Robert White, Ani Kafavian, Yo-Yo Ma, and Samuel Sanders):
I. “The Pulse of an Irishman”
II. “The Kiss, Dear Maid, Thy Lip Has Left”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWhGmLXcHa8
III. “Come Draw We Round the Cheerful Ring”
Frank Martin, “Piano Trio on Irish Folk Tunes” (Martin was Swiss)
Sir Arthur Sullivan, “Irish Symphony”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzGMyQugBo8
Sir Arnold Bax, “The Garden of Fand”
Samuel Barber, “Reincarnations” (on texts by James Stephens)
Ben Johnston, String Quartet No. 10 (a microtonal piece that teases a tune that – spoiler altert – blossoms into “Danny Boy!”)
Henry Cowell, “Two Bits for Flute and Piano”:
I. A Tuneful Bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bswlYBNt20
II. A Blarneying Bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Sp6UVY3qA
Ina Boyle, Symphony No. 1 “Glencree” (a pupil of Vaughan Williams)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR3MF7wkBlI
Joan Trimble, “Suite for Strings”
John McCormack sings:
I. “The Garden Where the Praties Grow”
II. “She Moved Thro’ the Fair”
III. “Off to Philadelphia”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVsFOtYmXFg
George Frideric Handel (arr. De Dannan), “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba in Galway Bay”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB8NhXtgG_A
Hard to stop there, but I’ll want to get this posted. Sláinte!
WWFM – The Classical Network
English composer Robert Simpson really loved Beethoven and Carl Nielsen. Hear for yourself, as I share a performance of Simpson’s Symphony No. 4, in celebration of his birthday.
We’ll also mark the anniversaries of the births of composers Marc Blitzstein, John Gardner, George Alexander Macfarren, and Bedřich Smetana, violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe, guitarist and composer Celedonio Romero, and conductor and composer Leif Segerstam.
The first round is on me (Gardner’s “Midsummer Ale”). Belly up to the bar, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Hail to the Chiefs!
You’d better sail through those white sales. You’ll want to be near an electronic device at 4:00 today for my annual State of the Union on The Classical Network. I’ll be revving up the musical automatons at the Hall of Presidents for Presidents Day.
We’ll hear works inspired by Thomas Jefferson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and of course George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Of course, I already played an hour’s worth of music in celebration of Lincoln for his birthday (February 12), but our 16th president inspired more note-spinning than can be crammed into a stovepipe hat.
If you’re looking to buy a roll of quarters, you may be out of luck, the banks are closed. But Washington will be well represented, in Virgil Thomson’s naïf ballet “Parson Weems and the Cherry Tree” (a Bicentennial commission), George Antheil’s rousing concert overture, “McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington at Trenton),” and John Lampkin’s “George Washington Slept Here.”
Composer Victoria Bond wrote four portraits of presidential character, for narrator and instrumental soloist. These were released on her album, “Soul of a Nation,” on the Albany Records label. The title track incorporates a violin for Thomas Jefferson, “The Indispensable Man” a clarinet for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The Crowded Hours” a trumpet for Theodore Roosevelt, and “Pater Patriae” a flute for George Washington. I’ll select one of these for airplay this afternoon.
Peter Lieberson’s “Remembering JFK” was composed for the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy inauguration. Its moving narration, compiled from the president’s own words, will be delivered by Richard Dreyfuss. Where have all the statesmen gone?
And, as an added curiosity, Chester A. Arthur disliked “Hail to the Chief” so intensely that he asked John Philip Sousa to write a replacement anthem. We’ll find time for that, too.
There may be no mail today, but we’ll sure sift through plenty of junk. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating Presidents Day, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Aaron Copland (92) Beethoven (95) Composer (114) Film Music (123) Film Score (143) Film Scores (255) Halloween (94) John Williams (187) KWAX (229) Leonard Bernstein (101) Marlboro Music Festival (125) Movie Music (138) Opera (202) Philadelphia Orchestra (89) Picture Perfect (174) Princeton Symphony Orchestra (106) Radio (87) Ralph Vaughan Williams (85) Ross Amico (244) Roy's Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner (290) The Classical Network (101) The Lost Chord (268) Vaughan Williams (103) WPRB (396) WWFM (881)