Classic Ross Amico

Tag: KWAX

Das Christ-Elflein A Forgotten Holiday Gem

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. An elf, a Christmas tree, and Baby Jesus walk into a bar…

Well, not quite, maybe, but it is kind of like the premise of Hans Pfitzner’s “Das Christ-Elflein” (“The Christmas Elf”).

This week on “The Lost Chord,” I’ll be reaching deep into the archive for an encore presentation of highlights from this neglected holiday gem, a largely forgotten link in the German fairy tale opera craze that also yielded Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.”

I’ve got plenty more to say about it, but this time of year I know you’re busy, so rather than ladle out all the kinderpunsch here, I’ll save some of it for the show.

Treat yourself to the Elf! Enjoy highlights from Hans Pfitzner’s fairy tale opera “Das Christ-Elflein.” That’s “Fairy Christmas,” 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 EST/5:00 PM PST

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EST/8:00 AM PST

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

IMAGE: A contemporaneous German Christmas card, similarly mixing sacred and secular traditions

December 14, 2024
Winter Solstice Music with Ross Amico on KWAX

Yes, I know the winter solstice isn’t until next Saturday. However, since by then I’ll already be going full-bore ho-ho-ho, this week on “Sweetness and Light,” I figured I’d get a jump on Old Man Winter and do my best to conjure some seasonal atmosphere, in providing a pleasant background for putting together a holiday checklist and perhaps even filling out a few Christmas cards over a cup of tea. It will be all music evocative of wintry scenes and activities.

We’ll hear works by Philip Lane, Frederick Delius, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Leopold Mozart; also the original version of “Jingle Bells,” published in 1857 by James Pierpont as “The One-Horse Open Sleigh,” in a hilarious performance by the Robert DeCormier Singers. Be forewarned: sleighs will be “upsot!”

Put on the kettle and link arms with Classic Ross Amico. We’ll be walking in a winter wonderland on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it wherever you are at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

December 14, 2024
Dickens Movie Music for a Scrooge Friday the 13th

HUMBUG! It’s the last Friday the 13th before Christmas.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s an Ebenezer Scrooge mixtape, with music from film adaptations of the writings of Charles Dickens.

Tune in for selections from “Nicholas Nickleby” (1947) by Lord Berners, “Oliver Twist” (1948) by Sir Arnold Bax, “David Copperfield” (1969) by Sir Malcolm Arnold, and “A Christmas Carol” (1951) by Richard Addinsell.

If I had my way, every fool who goes around with “Merry Christmas” on his lips should be boiled in his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly in his heart!

Blame it on an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There will be more of gravy than of the grave about it. Take your pick of Dickens, 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 EST/5:00 PM PST

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EST/8:00 AM PST

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

December 13, 2024
Holiday Tea Party Music on “Sweetness and Light”

This week on “Sweetness and Light,” I invite you to a holiday tea party. That’s right, the music will all in some way be related to tea.

We’ll get the kettle roiling with Dmitri Shostakovich’s charming arrangement of “Tea for Two,” recollect the elegant Palm Court of the Plaza Hotel in days of yore with Samuel Barber’s “Souvenirs,” and experience sugar-induced hallucinations of dancing tea leaves in Richard Strauss’ high-calorie ballet “Schlagobers,” or “Whipped Cream.”

Lewis Carroll’s Hatter may have been mad, but even he would think twice before imperiling an “unbirthday” with a fidgety monkey. The maddening patter of the 1953 novelty song “The Little Red Monkey” relates a simmering simian’s reactions to violin, euphonium, and tea.

Your eyes will be pinwheeling and your brain will be humming from an overindulgence of caffeine and cake when you join me for “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it wherever you are at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

For as disturbing as “The Little Red Monkey” is, Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella, “Green Tea,” is the ultimate cautionary tale about tea and monkeys:

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11635/pg11635-images.html

December 7, 2024
Thanksgiving Music Feast American Composers KWAX

While it seems to be the fashion these days to slap up the Christmas lights with Halloween barely in rear-view mirror, I’m old school. There’s no Christmas in this house until Advent or, this year, until the Thanksgiving leftovers run out.

Therefore, don’t be surprise if, this week on “Sweetness and Light,” my head is decidedly NOT full of sugar plums tucked in their beds (or however it goes). I am not there yet. Rather, I’ll be piling the turkey sandwiches high with cranberry sauce for breakfast as we savor musical delights suggestive of Thanksgiving weekend.

Some of the works will be evocative of foods associated with the holiday. All will be American in origin. Some will be specifically connected to New England.

The playlist, etched in mashed potatoes, will include music by John Williams, Edward MacDowell, Craig Russell, Leonard Bernstein, Morton Gould, and pianist/rodeo champion David Guion.

I’ll be wringing out the last of the cornucopia with an hour of Thanksgiving leftovers, on “Sweetness and Light.” Join me in shoveling in the pumpkin pie and whipped cream, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it wherever you are at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

November 30, 2024

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