Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Mozart

Mozart’s Birthday A Salieri Celebration

Mediocrities everywhere, I absolve you!

Join me tomorrow morning (Thursday) on WPRB, as we steel ourselves for Mozart’s birthday. Mozart was born on January 27, 1756. How will we mark the occasion? Why, by listening to music written by other composers in tribute to him, of course. Not a note of actual Mozart will be heard! Mwah-ha-ha-hahaha!! That makes me so happy.

Composers from the 18th century to the present pay homage to “the creature” tomorrow, from 6 to 11 a.m. EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll be channeling Antonio Salieri, on Classic Ross Amico.

January 26, 2017
Mozart Tributes WPRB Celebrates a Master

“Mozart! Forgive your assassin! I confess, I killed you!”

Poor Antonio Salieri. Wracked with guilt (at least, according to playwright Peter Shaffer) for having “killed” Mozart.

We’re killing Mozart with kindness this morning on WPRB, as we salute the 18th century master on the eve of his birthday anniversary. However, we won’t hear a single note of Mozart, except perhaps as filtered through the sensibilities of others. It will be a full morning of Mozart tributes, ranging from the composer’s day to our own, as old favorites by Tchaikovsky and Reger exist cheek-by-jowl with works by living composers Calvin Bowman, Jonathan Dove, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Puts.

It’s a cheeky concept, but you have to admit, it’s a lot more interesting, and certainly a lot more creative, than playing all-Mozart, which will be the case with most classical music stations tomorrow (as I will amply demonstrate when the time comes).

We make the most of Mozart this morning, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. I forgo contredanses for contrarianism, on Classic Ross Amico.

At 9:00, I’ll be joined by Jerry Kalstein, president of Boheme Opera NJ. Boheme Opera will be presenting semi-staged performances of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” (a.k.a. the prequel to Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro”) at The College of New Jersey, this Sunday at 3 p.m., and at Cherry Hill West High School, on Saturday, February 4, at 7 p.m. Tune in to our interview to find out more, or look online at bohemeopera.com.

January 26, 2017
All Saints’ Day Mozart & Musical Saints

It’s November 1. All Saints’ Day.

While Mozart may have been no saint, he certainly did write some divine music. I hope you’ll join me for today’s Noontime Concert, as we enjoy his Serenade No. 10 in B-flat for 13 wind instruments, the so-called “Gran Partita.” The performance, by the period instrument ensemble Grand Harmonie, took place at Harvard Memorial Chapel in Cambridge, MA, on October 17, 2015. Grand Harmonie’s next concert, an all-Mozart program, will be held on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at St. Ignatius of Antioch, 552 West End Ave., in New York City. For more information, look online at grandharmonie.org.

Following the noon concert, we will continue with the afternoon’s programming, which will be devoted to some musical saints. Featured will be Franz Liszt’s “St. Francis of Assisi’s Sermon to the Birds,” Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. Anne” Prelude and Fugue, Sir Arnold Bax’s “St. Patrick’s Breastplate,” Norman Dello Joio’s “The Triumph of Saint Joan,” and Ottorino’s “Church Windows” (which includes panels devoted to St. Michael the Archangel, St. Clare, and St. Gregory the Great), as well as music by St. Hildegard von Bingen.

I hope you’ll join me between 12 and 4 p.m. EDT for some heavenly music, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

November 1, 2016
WWFM Today Strauss & Concordia Concerts

Immediately following today’s installment of “What Makes It Great,” it’s Richard Strauss’ “Ein Heldenleben” (“A Hero’s Life”), in an acclaimed recording that, to my knowledge, has never been played on this station, with Semyon Bychkov and the West German Radio Orchestra.

Coming up at 4:00 EDT, stay tuned for a special concert presented by Concordia Chamber Players. The broadcast will feature Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581, and Beethoven’s String Quintet in C major, Op. 29. Concordia’s next concert will take place this Sunday at Trinity Episcopal Church, Solebury, PA, (outside New Hope) at 3 p.m. The program will include works by E.J. Moeran, Bohuslav Martinu and Sir William Walton. Find out more at concordiaplayers.org.

I’ll be with you until 4 today. Keep listening to WWFM – The Classical Network, and pledge your support at wwfm.org. Thanks!

October 18, 2016
Ponchielli Perlman and Rediscovered Mozart

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh…

Today is the birthday of Amilcare Ponchielli. It’s possible you may not know his name, but you certainly know his music, thanks to Allan Sherman and Walt Disney.

Join me this afternoon at 4:00 sharp for his most famous piece, “The Dance of the Hours” from the opera “La Gioconda.” We’ll also have a chance to hear his charming Quartet for Winds with Piano.

Then in the 5:00 hour, among our featured works, we’ll have the so-called “Odense” Symphony, which generated a lot of buzz in the 1980s, when the rediscovered piece (uncovered in Odense, Denmark) was thought to be the creation of one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

We’ll also celebrate the birthday today of Itzhak Perlman. At some point during the late afternoon, I would like to play his recording of Karl Goldmark’s Violin Concerto in A Minor. I don’t think it has been heard on the station for a little while. We’ll also enjoy a Brahms violin sonata in the 6:00 hour.

But it will be a riot of ostriches, elephants, gators, and hippopotami to begin, as I’ll be doing the heavy lifting from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

August 31, 2016

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