Happy Independence Day! Concerned about social distancing? Alienate everyone by making electronic music with hot dogs.
Tag: Independence Day
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Independence Day Movie Music
COVID may have robbed us of a “Picture Perfect” tenth anniversary celebration. Luckily, there’s something else to make noise about! On the eve of Independence Day, we’ll drown our disappointment with an hour of cinematic fifes and drums.
We’ll hear selections from the 2000 film “The Patriot,” in which slow-burning pacifist Mel Gibson is pushed too far by ruthless British officer Jason Isaacs and reverts to his bloody French and Indian War ways. Wow! Who knew Mel had a temper? By the end of the film, he is literally waving the flag to John Williams’ triumphant score.
In a somewhat gentler spirit, but no less subtle, we’ll also 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 the resting place of the Revolution’s most famous general. The music is by Adolph Deutsch.
What happened with “Revolution?” The 1985 film 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 penny whistle on the film’s soundtrack, as he would later for the more successful “The Lord of the Rings.”
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.
Here’s a clip from “Williamsburg,” with some of Herrmann’s music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VXfVhenXQ
We celebrate Independence Day this week – and ten years of “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies – this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
PHOTO: George Washington wagers he can crack a walnut with his bare hand in “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot”
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Copland Sensually Played Independence Day
The most sensually played Copland you will ever hear. Happy Independence Day.
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Ember WW1 Concert on The Classical Network
For today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, on the eve of Independence Day, we offer “Safe for Democracy,” a concert presented by the ensemble Ember. The thoughtfully structured program was one of several this season put together by Ember to reflect on the centenary and legacy of World War I – the so-called “War to End All Wars” – the contributions of veterans, the human impact of military conflict, and the social realities of post-War America.
Repertoire will encompass Charles Ives’ jingoist call to arms “He is there!” and the WWI popular song “How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm,” alongside music and poetry by Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Langston Hughes, and others, with some rather surprising discoveries. Deborah Simpkin King directs.
Then stick around as we attempt to tamp down the excessive temperatures with music of a somewhat cooling nature. The air waves will be full of water and ice and maybe even a little snow. We’ll wrap ourselves in the flag as we crank up the air conditioning, this Tuesday from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
PHOTO: The Iwo Jima flag-raising, one of the most iconic images to come out of WWII, rendered in snow in the parking lot of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA, in 2014
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American Music for Independence Day & WWFM Support
Get a jump on Independence Day with The Classical Network, as we rustle up a full playlist of American music to help enliven this fourth day of our end-of-the-fiscal-year membership campaign. We have only until Saturday at 11:59 p.m. to meet our goal of $70,000. So please, step lively and help us achieve our mini-goals and challenges, because we really need to stay on track and raise this money!
For your contribution of $70, we’d be delighted to send you a CD of a recreation of a 1930s-style radio broadcast from the Strings Music Festival of Steamboat Springs, CO. World-class musicians, drawn from some of the country’s great orchestras (including those of Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Atlanta), perform music by George Gershwin (“Rhapsody in Blue”), Jerome Kern, Vernon Duke, and more. Sportscaster Verne Lundquist serves as master of ceremonies. The program is introduced by the speaking voice of Gershwin himself.
The orchestral arrangements are by masters of their art, including Nelson Riddle and Herbert Spencer, who was John Williams’ right-hand man when working on the scores to “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” and so many others, until his death in 1992.
The CD was produced in-house and is available exclusively through The Classical Network.
Help us to preserve an oasis against the homogeneous clangor and insipid prattle of commercial FM radio. We are listener-supported. Our freedom to excel is made possible by YOU. It’s our patriotic duty to keep classical music strong in America! Call now, at 1-888-232-1212, or donate online at wwfm.org. We’ll be earning our stars and stripes – and hopefully Benjamins – until 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network. Thank you for your support!
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