Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Leonard Bernstein

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
Bernstein’s 99th Birthday Celebration on WPRB

August 25th (Friday) marks the 99th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein. Join me this Thursday morning on WPRB as we hop aboard the Bernstein Centenary Bandwagon, kicking off an inevitable two-year celebration of his genius as composer, pianist and, of course, conductor.

Along the way, we’ll salute The American Boychoir, the Princeton-based organization that stunned everyone on August 15th by shutting down its school, effective immediately, after 79 years. The choir will perform Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.” We’ll also hear Bernstein’s last major work, “Arias and Barcarolles,” in its original (and better) version for mezzo-soprano, baritone and piano four hands. The late Barbara Cook will sing selections from “Candide.” In addition, there will be a full roster of great orchestral recordings from all across the repertoire.

I hope you’ll join me in raising a stein to Leonard Bernstein – surveying 40 years worth of his recordings – this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll get all liquored up for Lenny, on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: “I never drink… beer.”

August 23, 2017
Barbra Streisand’s Classical Experiment

My mom was a big Barbra Streisand fan. I remember this album, which even then seemed to come out of left field. (It was recorded in 1973, but not release until 1976.) But beauty is beauty. “Classical Barbra” received mixed reviews, with some hailing it as “rare and risky” and others deriding it as “hideous camp.” It did receive stamps of approval from Leonard Bernstein and Glenn Gould.

I’m not surprised that Streisand would be attracted to this music and want to share it with her fans. Even if it were the worst-selling Streisand album of all time (I don’t know; it achieved Gold Record status), it probably reached more listeners than the best-selling Debussy album. Good on her. Not everything is idiomatic, but this chanson is seductive enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rnjl-s8dPs

Streisand is 75 today. Happy birthday.

April 24, 2017

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