Classic Ross Amico

Tag: KWAX

Kipling’s Classical Connection

Many composers have been inspired by the writings of Rudyard Kipling, but few more so than Charles Koechlin.

Koechlin is probably better recognized these days as the orchestrator who assisted Fauré and Debussy than for any of his own music. He was fascinated by the movies and wrote works inspired by a number of cinematic celebrities. This yielded, among other things, his “Seven Stars Symphony,” with movements dedicated to Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and others. The figure he most adored is the now largely-forgotten actress Lillian Harvey, whom he admired from afar and honored with a number of compositions.

In addition, Koechlin was an amateur astronomer and an accomplished photographer. He became quite the athlete, in order to keep up his strength after a youthful brush with tuberculosis. As I know I’ve pointed out before, he also had one of the most enviable beards in all of classical music.

Like Percy Grainger, Koechlin harbored a lifelong affection for Kipling’s “The Jungle Book,” and returned to the subject often throughout his career – beginning with some song settings in 1899 and running through the symphonic poem “The Bandar-Log,” completed in 1940.

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear his symphonic poem, “The Law of the Jungle.” Then we’ll turn to the ballet, “The Butterfly that Stamped,” by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů.

Like Koechlin, Martinů was prolific by anyone’s standards. And like Koechlin there is so much Martinů nobody has ever heard. In addition to six symphonies, which at least get some play, he wrote concertos of every stripe, as well as 15 operas, a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works, and – believe it or not – 14 ballets.

“The Butterfly that Stamped” was inspired by a tale from Kipling’s “Just So Stories.”

Get ready to go wild! It’s a Kipling double-bill. Join me for “Kipling Coupling,” 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 EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

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

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

A reminder that there will be lots more Martinů at this year’s Bard Music Festival, “Martinů and His World,” to be held at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, August 8-10 and 14-17. Take a gander at the complete schedule here:

Bard Music Festival

Fisher Center at Bard

August 2, 2025
Dog Days of Summer Music Playlist

This week on “Sweetness and Light,” we’ll be lounging around the water bowl with our legs out. It’s music for the dog days of summer.

When I was a kid, I remember hearing about “the dog days” and wondering what that was supposed to mean, exactly. I assumed it must have been when all the dogs were as flat or extended as possible (now known as splooting). Let sleeping dogs lie!

Later, I wondered specifically when that period was supposed to be. Before the internet, I surmised it must have been the hottest period of summer; and I suppose, more or less, I was correct.

It wasn’t until adulthood that I learned the dog days are an actual span that coincides with the heliacal rise of Sirius – the “Dog Star.” Heliacal rise is a fancy way of saying that the star becomes visible above the eastern horizon just before sunrise. In other words, it’s the morning star.

Modern sources are a little fast and loose with the astrological ties. The dates might as well come printed on the calendar, as in the English-speaking world, the dog days are now inflexibly July 3 to August 11.

Be that as it may, unsurprisingly, the dog days got me thinking about… wait for it… DOGS. More specifically, dogs and music. I hope you’ll join me today for a playlist of canine classics by Arthur Pryor, Peter Schickele, Sir Edward Elgar, George Gershwin, Walter Piston, and Daniel Dorff.

It will have you panting for more!

Better have some Milk Bones and a lint roller handy 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/

August 2, 2025
Thurber’s Dogs on KWAX Dog Days Summer

Hopefully these storms that will be rolling through New Jersey this afternoon and tonight will cool things down a bit. As it stands, this week on “Sweetness and Light,” I’ll be lying by my water bowl. We’ll be going to the dogs for the dog days of summer. To get you in the mood, someone put together this animation inspired by humorist James Thurber’s dog cartoons and the music of Peter Schickele. Hear Schickele’s “Thurber’s Dogs” again this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT on “Sweetness and Light.” I’ll be panting right along with you on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon. And yes, the program will be available for streaming, wherever you are, at the times indicated, by following the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

Enjoy the animated “Thurber’s Dogs” here:

July 31, 2025
Night Music Nocturnes on Sweetness and Light

This week on “Sweetness and Light,” we’ll be thinking cool and happy thoughts with an hour of night music – nocturnes, music reflective of the night sky, even sleep!

I hope you’ll join me for selections by Alexander Borodin, Antonín Dvořák, Jacques Offenbach, Claude Debussy, Manuel Ponce, John Field, and light music masters Charles Ancliffe, Archibald Joyce, and Robert Farnon.

Everything’s fine when the sun is asleep! I’ll be a fool for cool 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/

July 26, 2025
Christmas in July Wintry Movie Music on KWAX

It’s the 25th. Christmas in July! This week on “Picture Perfect,” there won’t be a manger or a Santa Claus in sight, but I’m sure we’ll all be grateful for a blast of frigid air and some chilly scenes from world cinema.

We’ll begin with music from “The Snow Storm” (1964), an adaptation of Pushkin’s “The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkan.” The score’s Waltz and Romance enjoyed particular popularity, earning its composer, Georgy Sviridov, two of his greatest hits.

Then Arthur Honegger will take us to higher altitudes with his music for “The Demon of the Himalayas” (1935), complete with the eerie electronic timbre of the ondes Martenot.

Ralph Vaughan Williams will guide us to the South Pole with selections from his score for “Scott of the Antarctic” (1948). The music perfectly reflects the sublime, austere beauty of an unforgiving landscape. The score became the basis for the composer’s seventh symphony, “Sinfonia Antartica” (note the Italian spelling; hence the single “c”).

Finally, the “Battle on the Ice” from “Alexander Nevsky” (1938) provides a textbook marriage of music and film. Director Sergei Eisenstein granted the composer, Sergei Prokofiev, the unusual luxury of having the images cut to suit his music, as opposed to the usual practice, which is the other way around. The result is not only one of the great films, but also one of the great film scores.

Feeling hot under the collar? Chill out with wintry scenes from world cinema this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music from 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 EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

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

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

July 25, 2025

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