Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Leonard Bernstein

Celebrating Leonard Bernstein at 100

Get ready to cozy up to Bernstein.

On this, the eve of the centennial of the birth of American music’s greatest polymath, The Classical Network will pull out all the stops, as WWFM hosts share representative performances from the conductor-composer-pianist-teacher’s extensive recorded legacy, alongside a number of his original compositions.

Here are just a few of today’s featured highlights:

Alice Weiss (9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.) – Carl Goldmark’s “Rustic Wedding” Symphony

Carl Hemmingsen (12:00 – 3:00 p.m.) – Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 5

Carl Hemmingsen & Ross Amico (3:00 – 3:45 p.m.) – Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 2

Rachel Katz (3:45 – 4:00 p.m.) – A selection of Bernstein’s settings of Jewish texts and prayers, including “Yigdal”

Ross Amico (4:00 – 7:00 p.m.) – Works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Roy Harris, Robert Schumann, Gustav Mahler, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Bernstein himself. “Picture Perfect” (6 p.m.) will include selections from the rediscovered audio for Bernstein’s only orginal film score, “On the Waterfront.”

Bill McGlaughlin (7:00 p.m.) – “Exploring Music” concludes its week-long salute to Bernstein with selections from “Mass.”

Rob Kapilow (8:00 p.m.) – “What Makes It Great” will focus on the genius of Bernstein the songwriter.

Our centennial salute will continue on Saturday, with Bill Jerome (8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.) and David Osenberg (1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.). Among David’s featured highlights will be recorded excerpts from Bernstein’s legendary Harvard lectures.

You’ll likely encounter even more Bernstein throughout the weekend, including the second half of a two-part tribute to the composer’s theater music on “The Dress Circle” with Ted Otten and Michael Kownacky (Sunday at 7 p.m.). If you missed Part One, you can enjoy it as a webcast, along with Jed Distler’s survey of Bernstein’s recordings as pianist, which aired this past Tuesday on “Between the Keys.” Both programs may be heard by following the link:

http://www.wwfm.org/term/webcasts

Also, it’s not too late for you to leave your Leonard Bernstein impressions and anecdotes on our Facebook page, at WWFM – The Classical Network, or by emailing us at info@wwfm.org (put “Bernstein” in the subject line). We’d love to share your experiences on the air. Help lend a personal touch to our celebration of Leonard Bernstein at 100.

You’ll find more details about our special programming by visiting our website at wwfm.org. While you’re there, consider supporting us. Without you, few of these treasures would be heard outside of our individual listening rooms. Thank you, as always, for doing your part to sustain classical music on the air, 24/7!

Happy Birthday, Leonard Bernstein!

August 24, 2018
Bernstein at 100: Celebrating a Musical Superstar

The classical music world has got a fever, and the only prescription is more Bernstein.

With the centennial of the composer-conductor-pianist-teacher’s birth coming up on Saturday, Lenny Mania is about to achieve critical overload. Bernstein has been everywhere for the past year, and the remembrances and celebrations look as if they will continue through at least the end of next season, with concert schedules ripe with representative works.

All the fuss is justifiable, of course. After all, there was no more influential figure in American music, and I would be hard pressed to think of any other conductor who achieved his level of glamour and universal recognition. Lenny was that rare bird in classical music – he was a superstar.

In common with musical organizations all over the world, The Classical Network can’t very well let this milestone pass without a good party. In particular, all this week, many of our syndicated programs and locally produced shows have been trumpeting this outrageously talented figure.

The birthday blow-out will climax with two days of Bernstein’s recordings and compositions, and perhaps even a sample or two of his spoken observations on music. After all, Bernstein was unusually articulate on the subject. I hope you’ll join us in celebrating Lenny on The Classical Network, as the bulk of our programming this Friday and Saturday will be made up of playlists lovingly curated by WWFM on-air hosts.

How about you? Do you have a Bernstein story you’d like to share? The Classical Network is giving you two options through which to do so. You can either post your story on the station Facebook page at WWFM – The Classical Network or email it to info@wwfm.org, identifying it in the subject line simply with the name “Bernstein.”

We’ll select from these on Friday and Saturday and share them with our audience in between some of Lenny’s classic recordings. It can be a personal anecdote, or it can be a broader observation. How has Leonard Bernstein touched your life?

From a personal standpoint, I am curious to hear about your own favorite recordings. I’ll be sharing some of mine on the air tomorrow afternoon. What are some of yours? I’d be happy to chat with you about it in the comments section below. If you want any of your comments shared on the air, be sure to send them to WWFM. Otherwise, what happens on Classic Ross Amico stays on Classic Ross Amico.

Then tune in on Friday and Saturday as we light 100 candles for Leonard Bernstein, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Photo courtesy of The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.

August 23, 2018
Labor Day Weekend: American Music on WPRB

As we approach the Labor Day weekend, get ready for a real labor of love, this Thursday morning on WPRB. It will be an all-American program. Man-made and natural wonders will punctuate the show, with works like Tobias Picker’s “Keys to the City” (written to mark the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge), Samuel Jones’ Symphony No. 3 (a musical response to Texas’ Palo Duro Canyon), and Joan Tower’s “Made in America.”

In addition, there will be lighter pieces about picnic foods and gazebo dances. I’ll also play a little musical ketchup – I mean catch-up – as I finally get around to airing at least two works promised on earlier shows that were bumped due to time constraints: Elie Siegmeister’s “Sunday in Brooklyn,” with its celebratory final movement inspired by Coney Island, and Ned Rorem’s Symphony No. 3, in a recording of its world premiere, with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.

As if all that weren’t enough, we’ll enjoy a recent recording of the Sonata for Piano by Jack Gallagher (composer), newly released by Centaur Records, Inc.

Put away your hard hat and lunch pail and join me for one final helping of baked beans and corn-on-the-cob, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Next week it will be back to the mines with you, on Classic Ross Amico.

August 30, 2017
It’s the End of the World Bernstein Birthday

I’m pushing the envelope here and presupposing a familiarity with R.E.M.’s 1987 hit. Happy birthday, Leonard Bernstein!

August 25, 2017
Bernstein’s Ecstasy Aired on WPRB

Making music threw Leonard Bernstein into ecstasies. And he wasn’t ashamed to let you know it.

Join me this Thursday morning on WPRB as we anticipate the 99th anniversary of Bernstein’s birth (on August 25, 1918) with highly charged performances of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 4 and Jean Sibelius’ “Pohjola’s Daughter,” alongside Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major, with Bernstein at the keyboard, playing with joyful abandon.

Along the way, we’ll salute The American Boychoir, the Princeton-based organization that closed its doors on August 15th after 79 years, with a recording of Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.” Bernstein’s last major work, “Arias and Barcarolles,” will be heard in its original (and better) version for mezzo-soprano, baritone and piano four hands. The world premiere recording features Judy Kaye and William Sharp, the latter no stranger to Princeton audiences, thanks to frequent guest appearances singing Bach with The Dryden Ensemble. We’ll also appreciate the talent of the late Barbara Cook with selections from “Candide.”

In addition, there will be some real rarities along the way (Nikolai Lopatnikoff’s Concertino for Orchestra, David Diamond’s Symphony No. 4). We’ll hear Bernstein the conductor, the pianist and the chamber musician, the composer of concert works and musical theater pieces.

Celebrate the genius of this musical hydra, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Lenny goes for broke, on Classic Ross Amico.

August 24, 2017

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