Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Naxos

Japanese Classics on Naxos

How much do any of us know of Western-style classical music composed in the East? There’s enough of it to fill over two dozen releases on the Naxos label. This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll take a whirlwind tour through Naxos’ Japanese Classics Series.

We’ll hear Kiyoshige Koyama’s “Kobiki-Uta” (1957), variations on a traditional woodcutter’s song; Qunihico Hashimoto’s symphonic suite, “Heavenly Maiden and Fisherman” (1933); and Komei Abe’s neoclassical Symphony No. 1 (1957).

I was unable to fit all the music I wanted to play into one program, so don’t surprise if we return to this subject in the coming weeks. For now, I hope you’ll join me for “Nippon Notes from Naxos,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 7, 2017
Hungarian Music on “The Lost Chord”

Have you a hunger for Hungarian music?

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” I’ll be joined by Mariusz Smolij for the first of a two-part series, in which we sample from his recording projects for the Naxos label, focusing on Eastern European composers.

Smolij is known in the Greater Delaware Valley as the Music Director of the Riverside Symphonia, based in Lambertville, NJ, which he has directed for over 20 years. He is also music director of the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra and Conservatory of Music in Lafayette, LA, and formerly associated with the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He has taught conducting at the music school of Northwestern University in Chicago and was a founding violinist of the internationally acclaimed Penderecki String Quartet.

We’ll hear selections from a concert work by celebrated film composer Miklós Rózsa (he of “Ben-Hur” fame), as well as several by his lesser-known friend and colleague Eugene Zador.

That’s “Famished for Hungary” – Mariusz Smolij’s recordings of Hungarian music for the Naxos label – this Sunday night at 10 EDT, with a repeat Wednesday evening at 6, on WWFM – The Classical Network; or listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Mariusz Smolij (right), Ross Amico (left), conspicuous product placement (center)

June 12, 2016

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