Ah, humans… compelled to classify everything. The more confusing the world gets, the more we try to understand. But what’s the alternative?
At a time when everything seems so fluid – language, mores, sexuality, and even gender – I thought we’d take a look at some equally perplexing musical hybrids this Thursday morning on WPRB.
Concertos are usually understood to be works for solo instrument and orchestra. However, we’ll be focusing on concertos for orchestra alone. Likewise, symphonies are ordinarily purely orchestral endeavors. We’ll hear symphonies for orchestra and prominent instrumental soloist.
Among our featured highlights will be the Concerto for Orchestra – now Grammy-nominated for “Best Contemporary Classical Composition” – by one-time Classic Ross Amico guest Zhou Tian; a symphony for solo piano by Charles-Valentin Alkan; an organ symphony by Aaron Copland, and a “concerto symphonique” for piano and orchestra by Henry Charles Litolff.
We may not know whether it’s fish or fowl, but whatever it is I’ll be tossing it in the blender, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. It will be another breakfast of champions, on Classic Ross Amico.