At a time when immigration seems to be such a divisive issue, it’s instructive to look back to political cartoons of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when bomb-toting Bolsheviks seemed poised to take down our democracy, the Chinese were inscrutable back-stabbers, the Jews were bearers of poverty and disease, and the Irish were simian-faced hooligans and drunks. Anxiety about outsiders has always been with us, yet somehow we got over each successive alien group, and the country has plugged along just fine.
This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll get a little perspective, courtesy of composer Peter Boyer. From 1892 to 1954, more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island in search of a better life. More than 40 percent of the U.S. population – over 100 million Americans – can trace its roots to someone who came to this country along that route.
Boyer’s “Ellis Island: The Dream of America” incorporates texts from testimonials archived as part of the Ellis Island Oral History Project. They are real words of real people telling their own stories. The work is performed by actors, rather than speakers or narrators, who deliver their monologues in the first person. In a powerful epilogue, each of them comes together to recite a stanza from Emma Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus.” It’s so effective – and affecting – I get a little choked up just thinking about it.
You will, too, if you join me for “Spirits of Independence,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!
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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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BONUS: The hour will open with Jerry Goldsmith’s “Fireworks.” Happy 4th!
Tag: Fourth of July
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Spirits of Independence on “The Lost Chord”
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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” -
July 4th Weekend Seaside Serenity on KWAX
It’s the Fourth of July weekend, and the beaches are open!
I hope you’ll join me this morning on “Sweetness and Light” for some serene inspirations evocative of surf and sand.
For the locals (I am, after all, based in Princeton), I’ll have two works that are Jersey shore specific, including the “Cape May Suite” by Rick Sowash (who lives in Cincinnati; so there!) and “The Atlantic City Pageant” by John Philip Sousa – named for the famous beauty pageant and given its first performance on Atlantic City’s Steel Pier.
We’ll also hear from Virgil Thomson, Émile Waldteufel, Ronald Binge, Clive Richardson, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Morton Gould.
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot John Williams, who wryly puts “Tourists on the Menu” in a promenade from the proto-summer blockbuster “Jaws.”
No teeth in any of the music, however, on “Sweetness and Light.” Meet me at the seaside this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:
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Americana Film Scores for the Fourth of July
This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s my birthday AND the Fourth of July, so I’ve selected four Americana film scores to enjoy with sparklers and cake.
Okay, so “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962) is not the most celebratory film, but I don’t care – it’s a beautiful movie, based on a beautiful book (by Pulitzer Prize winner Harper Lee), with beautiful music by Elmer Bernstein, full of nostalgia and yearning, and a playful sense of fun when the kids are rolling in tires. It’s steeped in Americana, so I’m going with it. Gregory Peck is unforgettable as the forthright attorney and model father, Atticus Finch. FUN FACT: John Williams played the piano part in the original recording heard in the film.
A rather more questionable role model is at the heart of “The Film-Flam Man” (1967), with George C. Scott as “Master of Back-Stabbing, Cork-Screwing and Dirty-Dealing” confidence man Mordecai C. Jones. Irvin Kershner directed, and Jerry Goldsmith’s music (harmonica, banjo, honky-tonk piano, etc.) lends to the film’s freewheeling spirit with a folksy, bluegrass-imbued score.
Jerome Moross is largely recognized for his classic score for “The Big Country.” However, that sense of quintessential Americana colors much of his output, including, most sensitively, his music for “Rachel, Rachel” (1968). Joanne Woodward plays the isolated schoolteacher of the title (the character lives above a funeral parlor with her mother), who belatedly experiences passion and asserts her independence. The director was none other than Woodward’s husband, Paul Newman.
Finally, we’ll turn to one of John Williams breakthrough scores, for “The Reivers” (1969), based on the semi-autobiographical novel of William Faulkner. The music, if possible, is even folksier and more frenetic than Goldsmith’s “The Flim-Flam Man” – though, typical of Williams, there is also an expansive sentiment and indefinable yearning to the more lyrical episodes.
It’s said that the composer’s work on “The Reivers” is what moved Steven Spielberg to hire him for “The Sugarland Express.” The Spielberg association brought Williams to “Jaws,” and the first of his truly iconic film scores. Williams collaborated with the director of THIS film, Mark Rydell, on a number of occasions, as well – on “The Cowboys,” “Cinderella Liberty,” and “The River.”
I hope you’ll join me for a Fourth of July tug of war between rowdiness and sensitivity, with Americana film scores on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
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!
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A Somber Fourth of July Reflection
Not the most jubilant time to be celebrating the Fourth of July – like sneaking a cake in to your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather when he’s in intensive care – but I send my gratitude to Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Washington and the rest. All flawed men, but enlightened ones, who dreamed of a better world, and risked everything to make their beautiful vision a reality. The democratic republic they founded was built on reason, education, and courage. And yes, idealism, but with a clear understanding of human nature, with its vulnerabilities to self-interest and corruption. Their wisdom, conduct, and informed planning have sustained this country for the better part of two-and-a-half centuries. Send your prayers for Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandpa, and happy birthday to the United States of America.
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