Classic Ross Amico

Tag: KWAX

Celebrating Vaughan Williams on KWAX

Ralph Vaughan Williams was born on October 12, 1872. Since he happens to be one of my favorite composers, we’ll get a jump on the celebrations this week on “Sweetness and Light,” with what I guarantee will be a lovingly-curated Vaughan Williams miscellany.

This will not be the usual collection of greatest hits (although we’ll enjoy one or two of those, as well). Among the rarer works will be the “Bucolic Suite” of 1900, when the composer was still feeling his way toward his mature style; also the “Stratford Suite,” made up of incidental music RVW provided for a number of the Shakespeare plays during the brief period he was music director at Stratford-on-Avon (1912-13). If you’re a Vaughan Williams fanatic, I’m sure you’ll recognize some of the melodies, derived from early music and folk song, many of which the composer employed in other, better-known works. The “Stratford Suite” appears on “Royal Throne of Kings,” released on Albion Records, the recording branch of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society.

Some of the music will be dreamy and luminous and some of it will be boisterous and earthy. You’re always safe with Uncle “Rafe.”

Pour yourself a cuppa and join me for “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it wherever you are at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTO: Vaughan Williams takes a slug from the mug

October 11, 2025
Beer Barrel Polka From Czech Roots to WWII Hit

When lyrics were added to the best-known polka of Czech composer Jaromir Vejvoda, it also became perhaps the most famous Czech song.

Originally conceived as the “Modřanská Polka” – or “Polka of Modřany” – with words it took on a new life as “Škoda lásky” (“Unrequited Love”). It was also a hit in Germany as “Rosamunde.” World-wide popularity ensued, as soldiers adopted it as a drinking song during World War II and introduced it at home as the “Beer Barrel Polka.”

This week on “Sweetness and Light,” in this season of the harvest and Oktoberfest, it will be one of our featured works as we roll out the barrels for a salute to BARLEY AND THE GRAPE.

The hour will include the “Revelry Overture” by Montague Phillips and Leopold Godowsky’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis on ‘Wine, Women and Song’” after Johann Strauss II. We’ll raise our goblets to the god of wine with ballet music from Jules Massenet’s rarely-heard opera “Bacchus” and the “Procession of Bacchus” from Léo Delibes’ ballet “Sylvia” (conducted by Richard Bonynge, who turned 95 this week).

We’ll also quaff to drinking songs by Reginald De Koven (“Brown October Ale” from the comic opera “Robin Hood”) and Henry Purcell (himself a casualty of one too many pub-crawls).

We’ve a powerful thirst for BARLEY AND THE GRAPE on “Sweetness and Light.” The taps are open, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it wherever you are at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

October 4, 2025
Beethoven & Beyond Sonatina Delights on KWAX

Think a sonatina for mandolin and piano is a bit far-fetched? Tune in to hear what Beethoven made of it.

This morning on “Sweetness and Light,” the unifying theme is sonatinas, or “little” sonatas.

Florent Schmitt’s “Sonatine en Trio” is a happy discovery indeed. There’s a certain neoclassic quality to the music, which we’ll hear in a version for flute, cello and piano, by a French composer whose orchestral works can be quite opulent. The title itself seems to harken back to an earlier time. In fact, the keyboard part was originally conceived for harpsichord. It’s cheering music, and I think you’ll agree, a great start to the day!

Carlos Guastavino is largely remembered for his songs. He wrote his Sonatina while visiting Manuel de Falla, who spent his final years in self-imposed exile in Cordoba, Argentina, following the Spanish Civil War. We’ll hear it performed by Gila Goldstein from a Centaur Records release, “Latin American Piano Gems,” a transporting collection of works by Ernesto Lecuona, Astor Piazzolla, Manuel Ponce, and Heitor Villa-Lobos.

We’ll also hear Philadelphia composer Romeo Cascarino’s Bassoon Sonata, written after World War II for his Army buddy Sol Schoenbach, principal bassoonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. “Sonatina” may not be in the title, but the character is light, and the sonata is only seven minutes long!

The program will also include delights by Federico Moreno Torroba, Eugène Bozza, and Erik Satie.

A cup of coffee, a scone, and a soundtrack of sonatinas. Give thanks for life’s “Small Pleasures” on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it wherever you are at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

September 27, 2025
Glazunov’s Underrated Genius on KWAX Radio

I’m not afraid to say it: I am a great admirer of the music of Alexander Glazunov! A phenomenal talent, a child prodigy, a noted teacher, and one-time director of the Petrograd (a.k.a. St. Petersburg) Conservatory, he’s frequently underrated as a composer, though he wrote a lot of attractive music.

His Violin Concerto is still heard from time to time. We should hear the symphonies more often. (A few years ago, I was surprised to discover I actually own four cycles!) He’s written some lovely suites and tone poems. Occasionally we’ll hear “The Seasons,” especially in autumn.

This week on “Sweetness and Light,” I’ll devote the hour to another of his delectable ballets, “Raymonda.”

Enjoy this luscious music of Alexander Glazunov in a very fine recording by the Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi.

Brew the coffee strong, because it’s going to be a sugary breakfast on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

September 20, 2025
Hungarian Music on Sweetness and Light

This week on “Sweetness and Light,” we’ll lend plenty of paprika and poppyseed to your breakfast with an hour of Hungarian delights.

Enjoy a selection from a beloved film score by Miklós Rózsa (you can take the composer out of Hungary, but you can’t take Hungary out of the composer!), a “Hungarian Capriccio” by Eugene Zador (who assisted Rózsa as an orchestrator), some old Hungarian dances arranged by Ferenc Farkas, Hungarian fantasies by Franz Lehár and Franz Doppler, Doppler’s orchestration of a work by Franz Liszt, Liszt’s arrangement of a patriotic melody, and a schmaltzy treatment of a work by Jenő Hubay.

That’s an ample helping of goulash and czardas on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it wherever you are at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

September 13, 2025

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