Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Marvin Rosen

Classical Music Friendship WPRB Fundraiser

When Classical Discoveries’ Marvin Rosen bought a prized Richard Arnell disc out from under me at Princeton Record Exchange, who knew that it would lead to such a rewarding musical friendship. Marvin has since more than made up for that early indiscretion and not only showered me with his duplicates (including a few of the Richard Arnell symphonies), but he has volunteered to help me out at WPRB on more than one occasion. Tomorrow will be one of those.

I hope you’ll join us, as Marvin will be my copilot. We’ll be playing selections from an assortment of “thank you” gifts, personally selected by me, of music by Aaron Copland, Lou Harrison, Zoltán Kodály, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Steven Mackey, Miklós Rózsa, Florent Schmitt, and Marcel Tyberg. In addition, there will be more Reinhold Gliere than might comfortably be digested. Laugh along, as we confuse the telephone volunteers by offering music by both E.J. Moeran and Robert Moran.

It’s all part of the fun, as we attempt to raise funds, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Get ready to pad out your CD collection, tomorrow morning between 6 and 11 ET, as we offer music from George Perle to Jerome Kern, on Classic Ross Amico.

#wprb75

October 14, 2015
Pope Francis Music on Yom Kippur

As Pope Mania grips the East Coast and anxiety levels skyrocket among Philadelphians who are bracing for a long weekend essentially kept under house arrest, I thought I’d add kerosene to the holy water by filling the airwaves with music in honor of Pope Francis.

How to do a salute to Pope Francis on Yom Kippur and not come across as insensitive? That’s the dilemma I faced when Marvin Rosen asked if I would switch with him for the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

So as not to be reviled as classical radio’s equivalent of Torquemada, I am reshelving some of the masses I had been considering. Instead I have struck upon the happy idea to play works inspired by St. Francis – the Pope’s namesake – and interleaving them with music inspired by animals. St. Francis, after all, had a marvelous affinity for our four-legged friends. And who doesn’t love animals?

I hope you’ll join me, if you’re able, on WEDNESDAY this week, to enjoy Francis-oriented works by Hindemith, Liszt, Poulenc, Rodrigo, Walton, Leo Sowerby and Kenneth Fuchs, and plenty of music for the critters. I’ll be handing out the treats from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, on Classic Ross Amico.

Then come back on THURSDAY morning for Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries. Sleep isn’t so important to Marvin, so he’ll be there, as always, from 5:30 to 11, keeping company with the roosters, at WPRB 103.3 FM or online at wprb.com.

September 21, 2015
Ross Amico Returns to WPRB! Princeton Airwaves

Classic Ross Amico returns to the airwaves! Beginning tomorrow, and for the next 14 weeks, I will be manning Thursday mornings at WPRB 103.3 FM, broadcasting from a bunker deep beneath Princeton University’s Bloomberg Hall.

The shift will extend from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, though apparently it is not unusual for hosts to turn up earlier and start spinning discs at 5:30. I’m suffering from a “summer cold” at the moment, so we’ll have to see about that.

Tune in for guest appearances by Sandy Steiglitz, host of WPRB’s @Sunday Morning Opera with Sandy (heard Sundays, from 6 to 10 a.m.), and Marvin Rosen, host of Classical Discoveries (Wednesdays, 5:30 to 11 a.m.), “Classical Discoveries Goes Avant Garde” (Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and “Treasures of Early Music” (Mondays, 5:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.).

Sandy will help us celebrate the birthday anniversary of American baritone Robert Merrill, and Marvin will introduce a special surprise from his own collection, long out of print and never issued on CD, which I am very excited to hear again after decades.

At 9:00, we’ll be joined by Richard Tang Yuk, who will talk a bit about The Princeton Festival, which begins in earnest this Saturday. Tang Yuk, the festival’s artistic director, will conduct three performances of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” June 13, 21 & 28, at McCarter Theatre. For more information on festival events, look online at http://www.princetonfestival.org.

What else can you expect to hear? I’m still trying to figure that out. But you can bet there will be nods to American composer Alan Shulman, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, and conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky, on the 112th of his.

The signal is strong – it can be heard as far away as Philadelphia on old school analogue radio – but it is also accessible worldwide at http://www.wprb.com.

Join us tomorrow and keep it classy with Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Marvin and me, exuding class

June 3, 2015
Record Store Day Avoidance Princeton Record Exchange Fan

It’s Record Store Day! You won’t catch me within miles of any record stores today – though I encourage you to support your favorites. I’ll content myself with going on un-Record Store Day. That still gives me 364 days to choose from. I don’t think I could handle the crowds and the heat, and whatever festive noise and live events they’ll have cranked up. Factor in weather like today’s and you’ve got a recipe for overstuffed mayhem.

My favorite record shop on the planet, of course, is Princeton Record Exchange. I’d been walking around with a great big hole in my heart since Tower Records closed its cut-out store, behind its former location at 4th & Broadway in NYC. PREX puts Tower in the shade. It’s the same Aladdin’s Cave, only more so. The inventory vacillates, depending on what libraries have been purchased recently, but there is always way, way more than in your average record shop (if you can even find any record shops these days).

And you can’t beat the prices. You can walk in there with $20 dollars in your pocket and come out feeling like a rich man, if it weren’t for the dozens of discs you’ll have to pass up, since you only have $20.

I emailed Classical Discoveries’ Marvin Rosen earlier this week and caught him at the Exchange. Then, I think there is usually a five-in-ten chance that I will catch Marvin at the Exchange. I was so envious. After doing my income tax this week, I won’t be able to set foot in that place, probably, until October.

Remember, I’ll be accepting gift certificates for my birthday.

More about PREX here – but if you go, don’t buy anything I’d want!

http://www.prex.com/

PHOTO: You know Marvin’s in here somewhere

April 18, 2015
Marvin Rosen Viva 21st Century Marathon on WPRB

Here are some more souvenirs from Marvin Rosen’s 25-hour “Viva 21st Century” marathon, which was broadcast over WPRB 103.3 FM. As you can see, the homestretch was not a lonely one. More photos on Marvin’s page, which for some reason I am having a hard time linking.

December 31, 2014

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