Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Gunnar de Frumerie

Midsummer Music for St John’s Eve Festival

Celebrate Midsummer with music for St. John’s Eve.

The Feast Day of St. John the Baptist (June 24) is like Christmas, in that it coincides with solstice time. But St. John’s Eve is more like Halloween. It’s a time for the lighting of bonfires against evil spirits – when witches are believed to rendezvous with powerful forces, such as the demon Chernobog, who emerges from the Bald Mountain – as the sun again pursues a southerly course.

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll surrender to Midsummer madness, with Modest Mussorgsky’s “St. John’s Night” from his opera “Sorochinsky Fair,” Alfred Schnittke’s puckish “(K)ein Sommernachtsdraum” (“NOT a Midsummer Night’s Dream”), and selections from Gunnar de Frumerie’s ballet “St. John’s Eve.”

Leaping over a bonfire at this time is seen as a surety of prosperity and good luck. Tuning in to “The Lost Chord” doubly so. Keep an ear out for “Midsummer Night’s Fiends,” 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!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PAINTING: “Midsummer Night” (1926), by Nikolai Astrup

June 21, 2025
Swedish Spring Music on The Lost Chord

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we focus on “The Virgin Spring.” No, not the Bergman film, in which Max von Sydow exacts terrible vengeance on those who… well, nevermind. See the movie.

Anyway, the show’s not about that. The spring in the film is a body of water, a symbol of rebirth and renewal. But we’re using “spring” in the purely seasonal sense, as we enjoy an hour of vernal expressions by Swedish composers.

We’ll hear Gunnar de Frumerie’s “Pastoral Suite” and two works by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: Book III from “Flowers of Frösö” and the “Earina Suite.” “Earina,” derived from the Greek “earinos,” meaning “spring-like,” according to the composer, conjures a world of “cult deeds and magic rites… belonging to some undefined natural religion.”

Nobody does spring quite like the Swedes. I hope you’ll join me for an hour of well-seasoned music, on “The Lost Chord,” 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!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

May 3, 2025
Swedish Spring Music The Lost Chord

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we focus on “The Virgin Spring.” No, not the Bergman film, in which Max von Sydow exacts terrible vengeance on those who… well, nevermind. See the movie.

Anyway, the show’s not about that. The spring in the film is a body of water, a symbol of rebirth and renewal. But we’re using “spring” in the purely seasonal sense, as we enjoy an hour of vernal expressions by Swedish composers.

We’ll hear Gunnar de Frumerie’s “Pastoral Suite” and two works by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: Book III from “Flowers of Frösö” and the “Earina Suite.” “Earina,” derived from the Greek “earinos,” meaning “spring-like,” according to the composer, conjures a world of “cult deeds and magic rites… belonging to some undefined natural religion.”

Nobody does spring quite like the Swedes. Enjoy an hour of well-seasoned music, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 15, 2022
Swedish Spring Music This Sunday

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we focus on “The Virgin Spring.” No, not the Bergman film, in which Max von Sydow exacts terrible vengeance on those who… well, nevermind. See the movie.

Anyway, the show’s not about that. The spring in the film is a body of water, a symbol of rebirth and renewal. But we’re using “spring” in the purely seasonal sense, as we enjoy an hour of vernal expressions by Swedish composers.

We’ll hear Gunnar de Frumerie’s “Pastoral Suite” and two works by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: Book III from “Flowers of Frösö” and the “Earina Suite.” “Earina,” derived from the Greek “earinos,” meaning “spring-like,” according to the composer, conjures a world of “cult deeds and magic rites… belonging to some undefined natural religion.”

Nobody does spring quite like the Swedes. Enjoy an hour of well-seasoned music, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 10, 2020
Swedish Spring Music on The Lost Chord

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we focus on “The Virgin Spring.” No, not the Bergman film, in which Max von Sydow exacts terrible vengeance on those who… well, nevermind. See the movie.

Anyway, the show’s not about that. The spring in the film is a body of water, a symbol of rebirth and renewal, but we’re using “spring” in the purely seasonal sense, as we enjoy an hour of vernal expressions by Swedish composers.

We’ll hear the “Pastoral Suite,” by Gunnar de Frumerie, and two works by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: first, one of the books from his collection “Flowers of Frösö;” then the “Earina Suite.” “Earina,” derived from the Greek “earinos,” meaning “spring-like,” according to the composer, conjures a world of “cult deeds and magic rites… belonging to some undefined natural religion.” Appropriate music, then, for Walpurgis Night.

The long winter dissolves in the lengthening days of “The Virgin Spring,” this Sunday night at 10 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

April 30, 2017

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS