Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Independence Day

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

July 3, 2018
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!

June 28, 2018
Classical Music Honors America and Birthdays

As you complete your training for tomorrow’s hot dog eating contest and three-legged race, consider joining me on The Classical Network as we get a jump on Independence Day with Elie Siegmeister’s “American Sonata” and Peter Schickele’s String Quartet No. 1, “American Dreams.” We’ll also hear the Symphony No. 3, “American,” by Trenton’s own George Antheil.

In addition, we’ll celebrate the birthdays today of Leoš Janáček, Philippe Gaubert, Carlos Kleiber, Ruth Crawford Seeger and George M. Cohan.

I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy (mostly), from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

July 3, 2017
America Through Foreign Eyes on WPRB

Show me the money!

That’s what Richard Wagner said when he was approached to write something for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. He responded with an execrable march, which he himself admitted he had only done for the $5000, a very great sum at the time. America was, after all, the Land of Opportunity.

But not everyone’s motives were so transparently mercenary. Ernest Bloch composed his epic rhapsody for orchestra, “America,” in sincere appreciation of his adopted homeland. Tune in to WPRB this morning to hear these works and others like them, as we celebrate America from foreign perspectives, in anticipation of Independence Day.

We view the promise of America from distant shores this morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. May the Fourth be with you, on Classic Ross Amico.

June 29, 2017
America Through a Foreign Lens on WPRB

On the suggestion of a loyal listener, who alerted me to the fact that Sir Arnold Bax’s Symphony No. 7 was dedicated to “The People of America,” I thought I would take a different tack this year when putting together my show in honor of Independence Day, which I will observe tomorrow morning on WPRB.

Instead of targeting the strike zone of American patriotism that encompasses composers who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II (much of whose music I admire and even love very much), we’ll view America and the American experience through a foreign sensibility. Some of the composers will be immigrants, excited and even grateful to have made the United States their home, and some will be visitors. Some, such as Richard Wagner, who wrote his dreadful “American Centennial March” for the 1876 celebrations in Philadelphia, will merely have been looking to cash a paycheck.

Not all of the music will sound American (eg. Bax’s Symphony No. 7, given its premiere in conjunction with the 1939 New York World’s Fair); some of it will be self-consciously so (Ernest Bloch’s “America”).

Join me tomorrow, as we welcome the tired, the poor, the huddled masses of the world’s composers, yearning to celebrate the United States, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. I’ll be stirring the musical melting pot, on Classic Ross Amico.

June 28, 2017

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