Classic Ross Amico

Tag: John Williams

WPRB May the Fourth Music Special

May the Fourth be with you!

Join me this morning on WPRB, as we listen to music by John Williams performed by the FilmHarmonic Brass. It’s one of at least 11 recent releases we’ll enjoy, with composers spanning from Robert Schumann to Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw and performers ranging from the Philadelphia-based choral ensemble The Crossing to Yo-Yo Ma.

We’ll also have a couple of special guests in the studio. At 9:00, Clipper Erickson, piano, will drop by to share music from his new release of instrumental works by Laurie Altman. Erickson will be performing music by R. Nathaniel Dett and Modest Mussorgsky in recital at Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton on Saturday at 5 p.m.

At 10:00 this morning, I’ll be joined by composer Zhou Tian, whose “Broken Ink” will be given its US premiere by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rossen Milanov, at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium on Sunday at 4 p.m. Our conversation will be followed by a broadcast of Zhou’s brilliantly orchestrated Concerto for Orchestra, written for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. (As an added bonus, tune in early, around 6:15, to hear Zhou’s “Morning after the Deluge,” performed by the Society for New Music.)

It will be raining new releases, hallelujah, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Après le déluge, c’est Classic Ross Amico.

May 4, 2017
Haydn Serenade A Musical Mystery Unveiled

One of Haydn’s most popular melodies wasn’t by Haydn at all.

Join me this afternoon on The Classical Network, as we listen to the “Haydn Serenade,” in reality composed by one Roman Hoffstetter. Hoffstetter was a Benedictine monk who evidently admired Hadyn to the point of successfully emulating his style.

It wasn’t until 1965 that musicologist Alan Tyson asserted that the six string quartets published under Haydn’s Op. 3 – including the fifth, which contains the celebrated andante cantabile widely known as the “Serenade” – were indeed the work of Hoffstetter. We’ll enjoy it this afternoon, on this, the anniversary of Hoffstetter’s birth.

We’ll also hear music for guitar and orchestra performed by John Williams (the guitarist, not the film composer), on his birthday, and a substantial fantasy on Ralph Vaughan Williams’ neglected opera, “The Poisoned Kiss.”

Name your poison, from 4 to 7:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 24, 2017
Irish Film Music Quiet Man Angela’s Ashes

“He’s a nice, quiet, peace-loving man come home to Ireland to forget his troubles.”

John Wayne gives Victor McLaglen a lathering in the epic climax of John Ford’s “The Quiet Man,” and composer Victor Young’s palette is all green. Join me for this alternately romantic and boisterous, folk-inflected score, alongside music for Ford’s “The Informer,” a very different film, a black-and-white study of guilt and paranoia, that earned Ford, McLaglen, and composer Max Steiner Academy Awards. (Ford was honored with his fourth Academy Award for “The Quiet Man.”)

We’ll also feature two films with music by John Williams: an adaptation of Frank McCourt’s autobiographical book, “Angela’s Ashes,” and Ron Howard’s big screen historical fiction, inspired by his ancestors’ journey to America, “Far and Away.” The latter soundtrack features the talents of The Chieftains.

We land a few for St. Patrick’s Day this week on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

March 17, 2017
Muta1206 Saxophone Star Wars Medley

Meet Muta1206. Muta specializes in saxophone overlays of anything from classical music to jazz to pop/rock to video games to genres I’ve never even heard of. To be clear, he plays all the parts of the arrangements himself. And his dogs love it. Here, to get you in the mood for the Oscars, is his performance of a medley from the “Star Wars” films (including “The Force Awakens”). “Star Wars,” of course, was named Best Original Score of 1977.

Yet again, many thanks must go out to John Williams. Has there been another composer of the last 40 years who has done more to get young people interested in music?

More with Muta here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/muta1206

February 25, 2017
John Williams 85th Birthday Salute

Hard to believe, John Williams is 85 years-old today. Oh Johnny, how do I love thee? Enough to go to battle with Norman Lebrecht on his blog, slippedisc.

John Williams is 85 tomorrow

I hope you’ll join me today, as I give Williams a more proper birthday salute, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

Thank you, John, for all the great music. You’ve been an essential part of the soundtrack of my life for 40 years. Long may you reign.

PHOTOS (clockwise from left): Williams with the 2016 AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, the first bestowed upon a composer; Williams with his “Star Wars” Oscar in 1978; Williams conducting sometime in the 1970s; Williams takes a bow.

February 8, 2017

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