Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Leopold Stokowski

Charles Martin Loeffler: Neglected Composer

The honor of “neglected composer du jour” must go to Charles Martin Loeffler. Loeffler was born on this date in 1861; he died in 1935.

Though he long claimed to be of Alsation birth, Loeffler in actuality was born outside Berlin. The composer turned against Germany after his father died in prison, where he had been sent for his subversive writings, when Loeffler was only 12 years-old.

Loeffler was a fastidious artist, who cut his teeth in Berlin and Paris, and indeed he is frequently identified as French-American. He settled in Boston in 1881, where he shared the first desk with the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony and became an important figure in the city’s musical life.

A man of wide culture and refined taste, he founded the Boston Opera Company. In 1887, he left the Symphony to devote himself wholly to composition.

Tune in this morning to hear Loeffler’s symphonic poem of 1906, titled “A Pagan Poem.” Inspired by the eighth Eclogue of Virgil, in which a maiden of Thessaly, abandoned by her lover, revives his ardor through the use of sorcery.

The work was first performed by the Boston Symphony, under Karl Muck. It was later championed by Leopold Stokowski, who recorded it for EMI. The piano plays such a prominent role, the piece sounds at times as if it may be a piano concerto. We’ll hear pianist Robert Hunter, and also English hornist William Kosinski. Enjoy it at 11:00 on WRTI 90.1 FM or at wrti.org.

Happy birthday, Charles Martin Loeffler!

PHOTO: Loeffler (left) and Stokowski — who’s the true pagan here?

January 30, 2016
Disney’s Fantasia: A Glorious Folly at 75

Try to forget for the moment that – between the acquisition of Marvel, The Muppets, Pixar, Star Wars and ABC (to say nothing of the cruises, resorts and theme parks) – Disney now owns the world. “A Night on Bald Mountain” was NOT intended as autobiography. This morning, we cast our thoughts back to simpler times when a visionary animator threw caution to the winds to forge “a new style of motion picture presentation.”

A guaranteed money-loser from the start, “Fantasia” was spared no expense as it pushed the state of animation, audio reproduction and family entertainment. There was no way, with the possibility of overseas distribution curtailed by World War II, this was going to be anything other than a quixotic venture. When was the last time Disney took a gamble on a scale of “Fantasia?” Now it’s considered bold if they adapt a comic book that’s not “Iron Man.”

I hope you’ll join me his morning as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Disney’s most glorious “folly,” released on November 13, 1940. We’ll have abundant recordings of Leopold Stokowski, some made for the film (in experimental stereophonic sound), some earlier (in glorious mono) and some later, from his “Phase Four” period and beyond.

It’s all Stokie from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM or online at wprb.com. Chernobog requests your presence, on Classic Ross Amico.

November 12, 2015
Fantasia’s Rite & Princeton Girlchoir Benefit

We’re fighting for the “Rite” to party this week. Coming up in just a few minutes, we’ll hear a vintage recording of the Philadelphia Orchestra performing “The Rite of Spring,” as we continue our celebration of the 75th anniversary of Walt Disney’s “Fantasia,” which was released on November 13, 1940.

Also keeping us young at heart, representatives of Princeton Girlchoir will drop by at around 9:30 to tell us about the group’s upcoming benefit concert, “Children Making a Difference,” which will be held at Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton this Saturday at 5:00. You can find out more about it at http://www.princetongirlchoir.org.

It’s all recordings conducted by Leopold Stokowski this morning, until 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and online at wprb.com.

November 12, 2015
Fantasia’s 75th Anniversary Celebration

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the release of Walt Disney’s “Fantasia.” The film, of course, is made up of eight animated sequences, ranging from the comical to the visionary, set to a Chernobog’s handful of the world’s classics, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Leopold Stokowski.

Tomorrow morning on WPRB, we mark the event with vintage performances of music presented in the film, alongside additional works, all conducted by Stokowski.

“Fantasia” was first rolled out as a 13-city theatrical roadshow on November 13, 1940. A curio and a money-loser at the time of its release, its artistic vision, episodic, often non-narrative structure, and expense, in terms of both production and the installation of special equipment during its initial tour (“Fantasia” was the first commercial film presented in stereophonic sound) ensured that it couldn’t possibly recoup its costs, especially during wartime.

However, subsequent decades have solidified the film’s stature as a cult classic, reissued many times, so that it now stands, when adjusted for inflation, as the 22nd most profitable film in U.S. entertainment history.

The creative marriage of Disney and Stokowski was bound to yield fascinating results. Disney envisioned “a new style of motion picture presentation” that would bring classical music to an audience (among which he included himself) that ordinarily “walked out on this kind of stuff.”

Stokowski would prove to be an ideal choice. The conductor’s ability to conjure unusual colors from one of the world’s finest orchestras was captured on eight optical sound recording machines over seven weeks at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music. This kind of thing simply wasn’t done in 1939!

The development of “Fantasound” pioneered simultaneous multi-track recording, overdubbing and noise reduction techniques, all processes still in wide use today.

I hope you’ll join me tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 ET, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of “Fantasia,” on WPRB 103.3 FM and online at wprb.com. We vicariously shake hands with the Mouse, on Classic Ross Amico.

November 11, 2015
Schumann’s Faust on WPRB Now

Have you tuned in since 7:00 and thought, “What the hell is he playing?” It’s Robert Schumann’s rarely heard quasi-oratorio “Scenes from Goethe’s ‘Faust.’” We’re celebrating Goethe until 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com.

I hope you’ll stick around. Coming up in the 9:00 hour, it’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Paul Dukas, with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Don’t sue me, Disney!

August 27, 2015

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