Classic Ross Amico

Tag: KWAX

Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony A Colossal Masterpiece

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Havergal Brian’s Symphony No. 1, the “Gothic Symphony,” composed between 1919 and 1927, is the longest symphony ever written.

It’s certainly one of the largest, requiring multiple choirs and orchestras. The work calls for vocal soloists, two double choruses, brass bands, and a much-enlarged symphony orchestra, including 32 woodwinds, 24 brass, two timpani, assorted other percussion (requiring 17 players), celesta, two harps, organ, and a greatly expanded string section. In addition, two horns, two trumpets, two tubas, and one set of timpani combine in each of the four brass bands – a total of nearly 200 players. And that’s before factoring in the singers!

The composer had to paste multiple sheets together in the writing of the piece in order to accommodate its titanic demands. Brian dedicated the work to Richard Strauss, who declared it magnificent.

We’ll get to sample but a fraction of it this week, on “The Lost Chord.”

A contemporary of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, Brian dropped out of school at the age of 12 and went to work in a coal mine. He also worked for timber firms and as a carpenter’s apprentice, the whole while nursing a secret desire to write music.

Though attracting early admiration from the likes of Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Thomas Beecham, and Sir Donald Francis Tovey, Brian was destined always to be a cult figure. But there were and are enough people out there that believe strongly enough in his music, that most of his major works have been recorded.

Among them are 32 symphonies – 20 of them composed after the age of 80 and the last at the age of 93. Brian died in 1972, the result of a fall, two months shy of his 97th birthday.

The “Gothic” falls into two parts, subdivided into three movements each. Part One was inspired by Goethe’s “Faust,” and Part Two is a gargantuan setting of the “Te Deum” – combined they present a symphonic vision of the Gothic Age, a period of incalculable expansion in human knowledge. The music in Part Two is essentially modeled on Gothic architecture. It’s literally Brian’s conception of a cathedral in sound.

Clearly, this is one musical edifice that’s too big for an hour, so well cut to the chase and grapple with the last 40 minutes. As a curtain raiser, we’ll enjoy Brian’s comedy overture “The Tinker’s Wedding,” composed in 1948, at the age of 72.

Of course, there will be plenty of biographical information along the way. I hope you’ll join me for “Life of Brian,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon.

Keep in mind that KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour time difference (conversion included in parentheses) – actually rather convenient for those of us located in the vicinity of the show’s erstwhile home at WWFM.

THE LOST CHORD – Saturdays on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)

And don’t forget my movie music show, PICTURE PERFECT, now on Fridays on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

June 3, 2023
Picture Perfect vs. Sci-Fi Airing Conflict

And all at once, I find I am competing against myself…

Since my shows were dropped from WWFM The Classical Network, after a combined run of 23 years, the only way to enjoy their broadcast is in syndication. As things stand, the most reliable source for “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” is now KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon.

Unfortunately, that means that “Picture Perfect” now streams directly opposite “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner!” Holy Agamemnon!

But I’m working on it. Now that the sound files are in my possession, and I’ve got the equipment so that I can finally think about recording some fresh episodes, I’ll be pushing for the shows’ distribution to other markets, so that hopefully soon they will be available to listen to at a variety times.

For tonight, you’ve got a difficult decision to make, between a recorded hour of music from films set during the Restoration, on “Picture Perfect,” and a livestream discussion of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange,” on “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.”

Interestingly, there is some overlap, as both employ references to the music of Henry Purcell (“The Fairy Queen,” on the one hand, and “Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary,” on the other).

That said, this week on “Picture Perfect,” beauty patches are back! It’s an hour of lace and licentiousness, with music from movies set during the reign of Charles II.

“Restoration” (1995) features quite the cast, with a pre-“Iron Man” Robert Downey, Jr. as a young doctor torn between duty and debauchery. He succumbs to the latter at the court of Charles, played by Sam Neill, before finding redemption as he battles the Great Plague and braves the Fire of London. The film also stars David Thewlis, Polly Walker, Meg Ryan, Ian McKellen, and Hugh Grant. The main title of James Newtown Howard’s score takes its impetus from Purcell’s “The Fairy Queen.” And indeed, there are baroque inflections throughout.

George Sanders plays Charles in “The King’s Thief” (1955). Edmund Purdom is a highwayman who pilfers an incriminating book from David Niven. An aristocratic schemer, Niven will stop at nothing to get it back. The swashbuckling score is by Miklós Rózsa.

I don’t recall Charles making an appearance in “The Draughtsman’s Contract” (1982), Peter Greenaway’s saucy, though strangely aloof, Restoration opus. However, there is plenty of licentiousness and an abundance of outlandish wigs. And, it being a Greenaway film, it is certainly strange in more ways than one. Michael Nyman’s score puts a minimalist spin on baroque sources. (Purcell is listed in the film’s credits as “musical consultant.”) For the theme, Nyman whips “The Fairy Queen” into a kind of musical egg cream, complete with 1950s-style rock and roll saxophones.

Finally, “Forever Amber” (1947) is based on a then-scandalous novel by Kathleen Winsor, about an ambitious young woman’s rise through the bedchambers of the Royal Court. The film was directed by Otto Preminger. Linda Darnell is Amber. Once again, George Sanders plays Charles, eight years before reprising the role for “The King’s Thief.” Cornel Wilde, Richard Greene, and Jessica Tandy are also in the cast. Philadelphia-born composer David Raksin, he of “Laura” fame, plays fast and loose with music of the era.

Bwoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! It’s so naughty! Everyone, giggle into your handkerchiefs and wear ribbons on your shoes. We’ll be powdering our faces and going heavy on the rouge, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX.

“Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” can now be streamed at the following times at the link below. Keep in mind that KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour time difference (conversions are included in parentheses) – actually rather convenient for those of us located in the vicinity of their erstwhile home at WWFM.

PICTURE PERFECT – Fridays on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)

THE LOST CHORD – Saturdays on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

The ”Clockwork Orange” livestream can be seen here, on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, tonight at 7:30 EDT:

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

June 2, 2023
John Williams’ WWII Film Scores on KWAX

I won’t put too fine a point on it, because I feel it would be disrespectful to those who made the ultimate sacrifice to use Memorial Day to sharpen my bayonet. But here’s an example of programming you WON’T hear on WWFM this weekend.

You will hear it, however, on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon, where “Picture Perfect” will continue, as I prepare to produce and distribute fresh programs.

This week, we’ll revisit some of John Williams’ music for films set during World War II.

Only six months after Pearl Harbor, America struck back, devastating the Japanese fleet in a battle regarded as one of the war’s turning points. “Midway” (1976) was a belated big-screen dramatization of the event, featuring an all-star cast of war movie standbys, including Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum, and Cliff Robertson.

Unfortunately, the assembly of old-timers, combined with abundant stock footage from “Tora! Tora! Tora!” and actual period newsreels, may have saddled the film with an all-too-palpable sense of been-there-done-that. Williams does his best to freshen things up with a rousing, patriotic score and a crackerjack victory march. Fun fact: “Midway” was one of only four films ever to be presented in theater-rumbling Sensurround.

Frank Sinatra starred in – and directed – “None But the Brave” (1965), the only time the Chairman of the Board sat in the director’s chair. This time, Japanese and American units are forced to coexist, and even cooperate, after they are stranded on a Pacific island. The film is also noteworthy for being the first Japanese-American co-production and bears a somewhat forward-looking anti-war message. The music is a fascinating glimpse of Williams’ work from ten years before his mega-success with “Jaws,” and “Star Wars” yet to come.

“1941” (1979) is just plain weird. Steven Spielberg’s too-big-to-fail gamble stumbles pretty badly, following his back-to-back blockbusters, “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” The premise – a Japanese u-boat sighting off the coast of California triggering an overabundance of slapstick panic – posits, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad war.

“1941” employs a staggering amount of talent, from its behind-the-scenes effects artists, to screenwriters Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, to its dream cast pushing as hard as it possibly can. It also features a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Toshiro Mifune and Slim Pickens in the same scene. But for the most part, perhaps unsurprisingly, it fails to deliver the laughs. What it does deliver is the most rousing of John Williams’ neglected scores.

Spielberg actually approached John Wayne about appearing in the film. Wayne was too ill to participate, but offered the following advice: “You know, that was an important war, and you’re making fun of a war that cost thousands of lives at Pearl Harbor. Don’t joke about World War II.” Whether or not audiences agreed, they didn’t exactly queue up as they had for Spielberg’s previous successes.

We’ll strike a more reverent tone with Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” (1998). Spielberg’s war-is-hell narrative yet manages to honor the sacrifice of the fighting men of World War II. The opening – a sustained “you-are-there” battle sequence on Omaha Beach – is unforgettable. Remarkably, it is presented wholly without music, Williams preferring to allow the tension of the mise-en-scène to speak for itself. Spielberg picked up his second Academy Award for Best Director. The film, however, inexplicably, lost to “Shakespeare in Love.” We’ll hear “Hymn to the Fallen,” of the hour’s selections, easily the most appropriate to Memorial Day.

Sadly, we’re not talking about “Star Wars” here, but a real war that killed tens of millions and destroyed the lives of countless others.

John Williams looks at World War II from four different angles this week, on “Picture Perfect” – music for the movies – this Friday evening, syndicated on KWAX. Stream it at the link below.

Keep in mind, the station is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour time difference – actually rather convenient for those of us located in the vicinity of WWFM. Here are the conversions of the respective air-times:

PICTURE PERFECT – Fridays on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)

THE LOST CHORD – Saturdays on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTO: War has a way of putting one’s problems in perspective

May 26, 2023
Picture Perfect: Movies Named After Women on KWAX

What’s in a name? “Picture Perfect” on any other station would smell as sweet.

Even so, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

WWFM may have uprooted my weekly shows, which likely ends my association with the station after 28 years, but thankfully “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” have the capability to flourish in syndication. I’ve new equipment at the house, and I’ll begin experimenting with the new set-up probably today. Which means, after three years of being barred from the WWFM studios, I’ll be able to start producing new episodes!

Your best bet for hearing my shows at a human hour, and in the context of a respectful, very respectable classical music station, is by streaming them from KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon – which by the way, is managed by fellow WWFM exile Peter Van de Graaff. Check out KWAX and see if it’s not classical radio the way you remember it from better days: the music is presented complete, the hosts are pleasant and unobtrusive, and nothing about it is condescending or dumbed down. You’ll find a link at the end of this post.

When I explained to the kind folks at KWAX what’s going on with WWFM, they couldn’t have been nicer. I have been assured that “Picture Perfect” will continue to be welcomed there on Fridays.

This week, it’s a show built around movies with women’s names for titles. This permits us to flit across a broad array of genres – contemporary drama, Regency Era comedy of manners, 1940s film noir, and 16th century costume picture.

In “Rachel, Rachel” (1968) Joanne Woodward plays a repressed, small-town schoolteacher, who learns to take control of her own life. The film marked the directorial debut of Woodward’s husband, Paul Newman. “Rachel, Rachel” was nominated for four Academy Awards, including those for Best Actress and Best Picture. Newman picked up a Golden Globe and a New York Critics Circle Award for his direction. The lovely Americana score is by Jerome Moross.

In “Emma” (1996), adapted from novel of Jane Austen, Gwyneth Paltrow plays a high-spirited though somewhat-clueless matchmaker, who fails to recognize her own feelings or those of the men around her. Among the supporting cast are Alan Cumming, Toni Collette, Ewan McGregor, and Jeremy Northam. Screenwriter and director Douglas McGrath fell in love with the book while an undergraduate at Princeton University. Rachel Portman wrote the Academy Award-winning score.

The Otto Preminger film noir “Laura” (1944) also sports quite the cast, including Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Judith Anderson, and Vincent Price. The equally impressive theme, heard in multiple permutations throughout the film, was written by Philadelphia-born composer David Raksin. Outfitted with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, it went on to become the second most-recorded song during the composer’s lifetime, behind only Hoagie Carmichael’s “Stardust.”

Finally, “Diane” (1956) takes us back to 16th century France, with a plot concerning Diane de Poitiers, played by Lana Turner. A member of the court of Francis I, Diane becomes the mistress of the king’s son, Henri d’Orléans, portrayed by a very young Roger Moore. Their illicit love unfolds against the backdrop of Medici intrigue and lust for power. Miklós Rózsa, MGM’s go-to-composer for historical spectacles, wrote the music.

Roses actually do very well when transplanted. All it takes is a little care. I hope you’ll join me for “What’s in a Name?” on “Picture Perfect,” smelling just as sweet in syndication on KWAX!

Keep in mind, the station is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour time difference – actually rather convenient for those of us located in the vicinity of WWFM. Here are the conversions of the respective air-times of my shows:

PICTURE PERFECT – Fridays on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)

THE LOST CHORD – Saturdays on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTO: Austen’s Emma, now enjoying her roses on KWAX

May 19, 2023
Classical Radio: KWAX Beckons After WWFM

WWFM may have dropped my weekly shows. But by heading west to KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon, I am that much closer to Japan.

This week, “The Lost Chord” continues, as we sample selections from Naxos’ “Japanese Classics Series.” We’ll hear Kiyoshige Koyama’s variations on a woodcutter’s song, “Kobiki-Uta” (1957), Qunihico Hashimoto’s symphonic suite “Heavenly Maiden and Fisherman” (1933), and Komei Abe’s neoclassical Symphony No. 1 (1957). Armchair travelers, your passage is paid!

I’ve got my hands full here at the moment, as I am in the process of arranging to take over production and distribution of “The Lost Chord” and “Picture Perfect.” Ideally, this means the shows will be heard more widely, but what is more exciting from a listener standpoint is that I will again be able to create new material. Part-time staff has not been allowed back in to the WWFM studios for over three years. You can thank the pandemic, the budget, and good old-fashioned, poor human relations skills.

The continuing decline of WWFM, once one of the finest classical music stations in the country, has been depressing for anyone who cares about music, with most of its passionate, dedicated staff driven off and replaced by an average of 20 hours a day of evaporated milk pumped in from Minnesota. One local host pops in for maybe four hours twice a week. You know something’s askew when during those hours you long for more Minnesota. The team of knowledgeable and enthusiastic record collectors that made the station so quirky and compellingly listenable is no more.

The pill would be less bitter, perhaps, if the canned version at least allowed the music to breathe, as opposed to chopping it up into the greatest moments of the greatest hits, and if the hosts weren’t so in love with their own chatter.

That said, despair not, friends! Quality classical radio still exists, and thankfully, it’s a small world after all. KWAX presents the music complete, the way the composers intended, and in a manner that won’t frustrate or annoy those who care about it. The general manager is Peter Van De Graaff, who once also had a substantial presence on WWFM, both in the early afternoons and overnights. If you remember Peter, you know the quality has got to be high.

In the evenings and on weekends, you’ll recognize other WWFM voices that have made their way west, including David Dubal on “The Piano Matters,” Mike Harrah on “The Lyric Stage,” Carl Hemmingsen on “Half Past,” and rotating hosts on “Sounds Choral,” alongside other syndicated programs that include “Classical Guitar Alive” with Tony Morris, “Pipe Dreams” with Michael Barone, and “Exploring Music” with Bill McGlaughlin. In addition, I must say, it’s good to be able to hear “Collector’s Corner” with Henry Fogel again.

In the days of the internet, it’s not only the maiden’s heavenly fisherman who realizes there are plenty of fish in the sea. If you’re tired of the blather-and-evaporated-milk approach to classical music programming, give KWAX a shot. I think you’ll be glad you did.

Whether we’re on different continents or on opposite coasts, the music brings us closer. Expand your horizons, with “Nippon Notes from Naxos,” on “The Lost Chord,” this SATURDAY at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (that’s 7:00 PM BACK EAST) on KWAX.

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

Here’s the schedule at a glance. Clip it and save!

PICTURE PERFECT – Fridays on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)

THE LOST CHORD – Saturdays on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)

Streaming here:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

IMAGE: The road to wisdom is paved with broken radio

May 13, 2023

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