Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Maurice Ravel

Ravel’s Cats & Bookplates A Birthday Tribute

With all that I’ve been writing about bookplates recently, it’s very interesting that I would stumble across this today, the birthday of Maurice Ravel. Ravel was not only a masterful composer, he was also crazy for cats.

Bon anniversaire, mon vieux!

March 7, 2020
Why I Ditched Smartphones Ravel Would Understand

Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t own a smartphone. Why would I keep a phone that would only make me look dumb (as when I try to type on somebody else’s using that impossibly tiny “keyboard”)?

But yesterday, as I was driving on I-95, I passed a sign that said something along the lines of “TRAVEL DELAYS POSSIBLE.” Only the “T” was burnt out. As today is the birthday of Maurice Ravel, I am doubly sorry not to have been able to document it. Then again, I could have wound up like one of those idiots who stands too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon in order to get the perfect selfie.

Ravel was fascinated by gadgets and lived as a semi-recluse. In all likelihood, he would have been transfixed by the smartphone. But if he had been, I’ll bet he wouldn’t have accomplished as much as he did. He would have had a hell of a Facebook page, though.

Happy birthday, Maurice Ravel.

PHOTO: If I owned a smartphone, it would look just like this.

March 7, 2019
Ravel’s War A Memorial Day Tribute

With the outbreak of World War I, Maurice Ravel did his patriotic duty and enlisted in the French army. He was rejected from the infantry and the air force on account of his diminutive size and precarious health, but he learned to drive a truck and cared for the wounded at Verdun on the Western Front.

Ravel survived the war, but six of his friends were not so lucky. His “Le tombeau de Couperin” was ostensibly written as a tribute to the Baroque master, Francois Couperin, but each of the movements is dedicated to one of the fallen. Hear it this morning on WPRB103.3 FM and wprb.com, as part of a Memorial Day salute to the musical dead of all countries – the soldiers who laid down their lives in combat and the unfortunate civilians who were collateral casualties.

We’ll have pieces of war and prayers for peace until 11:00 EDT on Classic Ross Amico.

Read more about Ravel’s war experiences here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z2nk6sg

PHOTO: Ravel in uniform

May 25, 2017
Spooky Classical Halloween Soundtrack on WWFM

Happy Hallowe’en, everyone!

As you prepare the little monsters for Trick-or-Treat, I hope you’ll make us your macabre and amusing soundtrack this afternoon, as I’ll be weaving a spooky and sometimes silly tapestry of music evocative of ghosts, vampires, demons and haunted landscapes.

Sir John Gielgud will recite eerie poems of Aloysius Betrand as pianist Gina Bachauer performs Maurice Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit.” Composer of British light music Frederic Curzon will give us the playful “Dance of an Ostracised Imp.” We’ll hear the original version of “Danse macabre,” conceived as a song by Camille Saint-Saens. We’ll also have the tongue-in-cheek “Dracula’s House-and-Court Music” by Kurt Schwertsik. In addition, we’ll enjoy selections from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Psycho,” and “The Bride of Frankenstein.”

In short, we’ll be up to our elbows in French horns, gore, and candy corn, this All Hallows’ Eve from 4 to 7:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

Cartoon (below) by Jeffrey Curnow, associate principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra

October 31, 2016
Spring Forward with Ravel’s Five O’Clock Foxtrot

It’s almost time to “spring forward.” As a reminder to turn your clocks ahead, here’s a selection from Maurice Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les sortilèges” – the “Five o’Clock Foxtrot” – further evidence of Ravel’s fascination with mechanical objects. Play it loudly and proudly as you make the rounds tonight at 2 a.m.

March 12, 2016

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