Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Philadelphia Orchestra

Riccardo Muti at 76 a Classical Lion

It’s hard to believe that Riccardo Muti is 76 years-old. It seems like only yesterday that Philadelphians were more interested in talking about his hair than his music-making.

Yes, yes, Muti is the villain that destroyed the “Philadelphia sound.” He believed that Beethoven maybe shouldn’t sound like Mahler. A lot of the old-timers couldn’t handle that.

Also, he wasn’t shy about dressing down the audience if he felt someone had crossed a line, as in applauding after the rousing third movement of Tchaikovsky’s “Pathètique” Symphony. I shudder to think what he would have done had there been cell phones then.

Oddly, the one time an audience member was deliberately confrontational (after a scheduled piece by Varèse was replaced by Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony), he merely dropped his arms and waited for the agitator to be carried out.

What I remember most about the Muti era in Philadelphia was concert after concert of amazing Bruckner, Shostakovich and Scriabin, with the shockwaves being sent straight up to the top of the two-dollar-a-ticket amphitheatre at the old, “dry” Academy of Music.

Okay, so he wasn’t a magician like Stokowski, and he wasn’t as user-friendly as Ormandy. Muti had passion wrapped up in the veneer of “authenticity.” He gave lip-service to worshipping at the altar of Toscanini, who claimed deference to “the score.” But in performance, a lot of things can happen, and very few of Muti’s performances were museum pieces.

I confess I haven’t really followed his career in Chicago. They seem to love him there. During important sports milestones, he even leads the symphony while wearing a Blackhawks jersey. I couldn’t imagine him doing something like that during his Philadelphia years, even though there isn’t a city that’s crazier about its teams than Philadelphia.

The overall impression of his departure was one of contentiousness. He didn’t get his new concert hall, though he did begin the push that resulted in the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. He wouldn’t have been caught dead going the populist route of “Yannick,” the maestro in our midst, who is all smiles as he gets tattooed in a t-shirt.

There was also some broken china when Muti left La Scala. He made waves when he refused to allow star singers to reprise arias, which had been an ingrained custom following a rapturous reception from the audience. More damagingly, he clashed with the general manager and eventually the musicians. Hey, he’s Italian. They’re all Italian, just about. Grant him some temperament.

And now, suddenly, Riccardo Muti is one of classical music’s old lions. Join me today as we celebrate his birthday with some of his recordings, from 4 to 6 p.m. EDT. “Picture Perfect” will follow at 6 (more on that in a bit), on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

In case you think Muti doesn’t have a sense of humor, check out this fabulous speech as he accepts an honor (Musician of the Year) from Musical America:

July 28, 2017
Herbert Blomstedt at 90 A Conducting Legend

While Herbert Blomstedt may not be the most glamorous conductor, he is one of the most reliable. Occasionally, he’s even inspired. A professional conductor can’t hope for more than that. For me, his Hindemith recordings lift the composer’s music to a whole other level, and I was privileged to experience his acclaimed Nielsen live in Philadelphia.

Now, at the age of 90, Blomstedt shows no signs of slowing down, with dozens of concerts on this year’s schedule, from Europe’s most storied orchestras (the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics) to the San Francisco Symphony, which he directed from 1985 to 1995.

A devout Seventh-day Adventist, Blomstedt does not work on Saturdays. He does not consider conducting work, but rather an expression of his religious devotion; he does, however, count rehearsals. He abstains from meat, alcohol and coffee.

Interestingly, he was born in Massachusetts, but his parents returned the family to Sweden, the country of their origin, when he was only 2.

Join me this afternoon, as we mark the maestro’s 90th birthday by listening to some of his finest recordings. They’ll be among our featured offerings today from 12 to 4 p.m., on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Happy birthday, Herbert Blomstedt!

A brief interview that ran in the New York Times back in February, concurrently with his latest appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/arts/music/herbert-blomstedt-is-turning-90-he-is-also-conducting-over-90-concerts-this-year.html

In more detail, as always, with Bruce Duffie:

http://www.bruceduffie.com/blomstedt.html

PHOTO: Blomstedt (left) hanging with Brahms

July 11, 2017
Yardumian Centennial Philadelphia Composer

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Philadelphia composer Richard Yardumian. Yardumian served as The Philadelphia Orchestra’s composer-in-residence from 1949 to 1964. The orchestra gave first performances of no less than ten of his pieces, beginning with “Desolate City” in 1945. Eugene Ormandy recorded six of them. I remember well playing these during my apprentice years in community radio. The music is attractive, well-made, and often deeply felt, with insights into the composer’s spiritual convictions and Armenian heritage. Why, why, why, Sony, have you never reissued these recordings?

In the 1990s, Albany Records briefly revived some of the lesser-known American classics that had been championed by Ormandy – among them, works by the equally neglected Louis Gesensway and John Vincent – so my hopes were high to finally acquire those Yardumian recordings on CD. But it was not to be. The series petered out after only three volumes.

Yardumian, who was largely self-taught as a composer, was 19 when he wrote his most popular piece, the “Armenian Suite.” We’ll hear it this afternoon, alongside “Veni Sancte Spiritus” (“Come, Creator Spirit”), another orchestral work, from 1959. In addition, we’ll mark the birthday anniversaries of composers Louis Spohr and Albert Roussel and conductor Herbert von Karajan.

At 4:00, I will be joined by Lyn Ransom, founder and music director of VOICES Chorale, now in its 30th season. Ransom will be directing Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem” in its rarely-heard London edition, performed on four-hand piano, this Saturday at 7:30 p.m., at The College of New Jersey’s TCNJ-Mayo Concert Hall in Ewing Township; and then again, with orchestra, in collaboration with Riverside Symphonia, at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium, on June 16th at 8 p.m. Tune in this afternoon to learn more, or check the organization’s website, at http://www.voiceschorale.org.

I’ll be sharing the music, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

April 5, 2017
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4 Debut

It was on this date 90 years ago that the Sergei Rachmaninoff gave the debut of his Piano Concerto No. 4, from the keyboard, with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. It had been 18 years since his previous concerto (which he had unveiled in New York). In the meantime, he had weathered the Russian Revolution and the personal, perpetual obligation of earning a living as a concert pianist.

The original version of the Fourth Concerto was much longer than the one heard at the 1927 premiere. Even so, the work failed to engage either critics or audience. The composer, ever sensitive to criticism (the failure of his Symphony No. 1 plunged him into a depression so profound that it could only be alleviated through hypnotherapy, from which he emerged to write his Piano Concerto No. 2, ecstatically received), prepared a final, authoritative version of the Concerto No. 4 for performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra, this time under Eugene Ormandy, in 1941. The work has never caught the imagination of concert-goers to anywhere near the same extent as the Concertos Nos. 2 & 3.

The original version was released by the Rachmaninoff Estate only in the year 2000. It has since been recorded in this form several times. It’s a very interesting piece. One wonders if the work would have fared better had Rachmaninoff simply stuck to his guns?

The original version of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4:

PLEASE NOTE: Eric Lu will perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Chiu-Tze Lin, at Rutgers University’s Nicholas Music Center in New Brunswick, tonight at 7:30 p.m.

PHOTO: Rachmaninoff and Ormandy in 1938

March 18, 2017
Eugene Ormandy Underrated Maestro

What’s the big deal about this guy, Jenő Blau? Well, you probably know him better by his adopted name, Eugene Ormandy.

Ormandy, a Hungarian-born violinist, who had studied with Jenő Hubay (for whom he was named), became a naturalized American citizen in 1927. He ultimately wound up directing the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years. In that capacity, he became one of the world’s most-recorded conductors.

However, in some respects, he remains a vastly underrated one. Sure, he was a superb interpreter of 19th century and post-romantic classics, but he also championed much contemporary music and new works written by his adopted countrymen. Also, if there was a more sensitive accompanist in the concerto repertoire, I don’t know of him.

Join me this afternoon, from 4 to 6 EST, as we honor Eugene Ormandy on the anniversary of his birth (in 1899), on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

November 18, 2016

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