Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Labor Day

Labor Day Music for the Working Class

Who wants to work today? You, you, and you!

Climb aboard this morning and earn your keep, as we listen to music about labor and for the worker in anticipation of Labor Day. This will be an international affair, with Prokofiev’s “Le pas d’acier” (“The Steel Step”), a love story set in a factory, Manuel Rosenthal’s “Les petits métiers” (“The Small Trades”), and Nikolai Medtner’s “Three Hymns in Praise of Toil.”

There will also be two Danish symphonies: Rued Laangaard’s Symphony No. 14, “The Morning,” which culminates in the start of the work day, and Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3, “Sinfonia espansiva,” concluding with “a hymn to work and the healthy activity of living.”

Naturally, it being an American holiday, we’ll have plenty of music by our native composers, as well, including the construction worker ballet “Skyscrapers” by John Alden Carpenter, Frederick Shepherd Converse’s tone poem about automobile manufacturing, “Flivver Ten Million,” and a suite from that quintessential film about violent longshoremen, “On the Waterfront,” by Leonard Bernstein.

We’ll be busting our hump for the man, from 6 to 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. I coulda been somebody; I coulda been a contender, on Classic Ross Amico.

September 1, 2016
Labor Day Music Salute Workers on WPRB

Construction workers seek distraction from their labors with a side trip to Coney Island – right now, we’re listening to the ballet “Skyscrapers” by John Alden Carpenter. In just a few minutes, we’ll have a piano suite celebrating blue collar Brooklyn on a Sunday afternoon, “Sunday in Brooklyn,” by Elie Siegmeister. There will be more music evocative of factory workers, longshoremen, and various other trades, as we look ahead to Labor Day, with a guest appearance by Princeton’s own Paul Robeson, who will sing “Joe Hill.”

It’s music for the working stiff this morning until 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

September 1, 2016
Carl Nielsen A Labor Day Composer

Carl Nielsen understood the value of hard work. He grew up, one of twelve children, in a musical family of very limited means. By the time he was accepted into the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, he had already been performing and composing for many years. Like “The Ugly Duckling” of his compatriot Hans Christian Andersen, he emerged from humble origins to become a cherished thing of beauty, embraced as his country’s national composer.

Nielsen described the finale of his Symphony No. 3 as “a hymn to work and the healthy activity of living.” Enjoy it tomorrow morning, as we anticipate the Labor Day weekend with musical salutes to labor and the worker.

Be there with your lunch pail and dungarees, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM. We’re always working hard for your enjoyment, on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Nielsen breaking a sweat in his workroom, where he completed his Symphony No. 3 in 1911

August 31, 2016
John Henry Labor Day A Resonating Metaphor

A metaphor that continues to resonate. For all you John Henrys…

Paul Robeson:

Aaron Copland:

Happy Labor Day.

September 7, 2015
Labor Day Classical Music Showcase

Sure, we’re looking ahead to Labor Day this morning, but not all of the music will be “labor intensive.” I hope you’ll join me for music by a bunch of neglected dead white guys from the Greatest Generation of American Composers, and maybe a few women (also dead, alas). In addition, we’ll have contributions from those still toiling, composers like Paul Lansky and John Corigliano.

Poor David Diamond got short shrift on the 100th anniversary of his birth, since everyone else seemingly played everything in advance of his July 9 birthday. Enough time has passed that I can now in some small way make amends. We’ll have his best known piece, the early “Rounds for String Orchestra,” and one of his later works, the adagio from the Symphony No. 11 – the only part of the symphony so far to be recorded.

Certainly a highlight will be one of the symphonies of Lukas Foss, drawn from a new recording of the complete set of four, performed by Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP).

Labor-oriented pieces will include “John Henry” by Aaron Copland, “Skyscrapers” by John Alden Carpenter, and “Flivver Ten Million” – about automobile manufacturing – by Frederick Shepherd Converse. In addition, Princeton’s own Paul Robeson will sing the labor anthem “Joe Hill.”

Pull up a girder and get out your Stanley thermos. I’ll be doing the heavy-lifting on Class Ross Amico, today from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com.

September 3, 2015

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