Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Princeton University

  • Stravinsky at Princeton A 50 Year Remembrance

    Stravinsky at Princeton A 50 Year Remembrance

    When an artist like Igor Stravinsky comes to town, you’re not likely to forget – even 50 years later.

    Stravinsky was 84 years-old in 1966, and regarded as perhaps the greatest composer of his day, when he was commissioned by Princeton University and Stanley Seeger to write his “Requiem Canticles.” The work was written to the memory of Seeger’s mother, Helen Buchanan Seeger, a benefactor of the university and especially the university’s music department.

    Stravinsky described the piece as his “pocket requiem,” six movements spanning roughly 15 minutes. The work is sung in Latin and rendered in the composer’s later, twelve-tone idiom. It was given its debut at McCarter Theatre Center on October 8 of that year. It would be Stravinsky’s last major work. It was played at his own funeral in Venice in 1971.

    To mark the 50th anniversary of Stravinsky’s visit, the composer will be remembered, musically, on two programs to be performed at the university this weekend. Michael Pratt will conduct the Princeton University Orchestra in a suite from the composer’s ballet “The Firebird” on Friday at 7:30 p.m., and Gabriel Crouch will lead the Princeton University Glee Club in the choral masterpiece “Les Noces” on Sunday at 3 p.m. Both works will be presented at Richardson Auditorium.

    Find out more, and read first-hand accounts of the composer’s visit from Maida Pollock, then manager of the university’s concerts, and Bill Lockwood, then, as now, McCarter’s programming director, in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

    http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/12/classical_music_puo_pugc_so_pe.html

    PHOTO: Stravinsky (right) with his assistant, Robert Craft, in 1964

  • Stravinsky A Princeton Celebration

    Stravinsky A Princeton Celebration

    If it’s not too early for Igor, who traveled so far, it shouldn’t be too early for you.

    So pull up a chair and enjoy a cup of neoclassicism. Pour yourself a bowl of serialism. Nibble on some Russian nationalism. It’s music by the 20th century’s most versatile composer, an incredible journey from a student symphony steeped in the idiom of the Mighty Handful to the absorption of twelve-tone technique in the moving “Requiem Canticles,” his last major work.

    In 1966, the “Requiem Canticles” was commissioned by Princeton University, which led to a residency by the composer, who, at 84, conducted the world premiere of the work at McCarter Theatre. Join me this morning, as we gaze back a half-century to this remarkable event, with a full playlist of Stravinsky’s music.

    The program will be enhanced by commentary by Maida Pollock, now 90 years-old and living in Hawaii. Pollock was the university’s concert manager at the time of Stravinsky’s visit. In the 9:00 hour, we’ll hear recorded excerpts from a conversation we had yesterday by telephone. That will be followed by a recording of “Requiem Canticles.”

    In addition, we’ll have some special guests in the 10:00 hour: Michael Pratt, who will conduct the suite from Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” on two concerts of the Princeton University Orchestra, on Dec. 8 & 9, and Gabriel Crouch, who will lead a program including Stravinsky’s “Les Noces,” with the Princeton University Glee Club and So Percussion, on Dec. 11. All three concerts will be held at Richardson Auditorium.

    It’s a full morning of grapefruit and Grape Nuts with the 20th century’s greatest composer, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Suddenly we’re kind of hungry, on Classic Ross Amico.

  • Stravinsky’s Princeton Premiere 50th Anniversary

    Stravinsky’s Princeton Premiere 50th Anniversary

    It was 50 years ago that Igor Stravinsky came to Princeton to give the world premiere of his new work for chorus and orchestra, the “Requiem Canticles.” The composer, then 84 years-old, was seen lying flat on his back in the McCarter Theatre box office, trying to conserve his energy. He stunned everyone by leading the work’s first performance in October of 1966. (Many had expected to see his assistant, Robert Craft, take over following rehearsals.)

    Tomorrow morning on WPRB, we honor the 50th anniversary of Stravinsky’s Princeton University residency. We’ll have a full morning of his music, including the early Symphony in E-flat, composed while he was yet an apprentice of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the ballet “Le baiser de la fée” (“The Fairy’s Kiss”), written in homage to Tchaikovsky, and his final masterpiece, the “Requiem Canticles.”

    Dropping by at 10:00 will be Michael Pratt, who will conduct the suite from Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” on two concerts of the Princeton University Orchestra, on Dec. 8 & 9, and Gabriel Crouch, who will lead a program including Stravinsky’s “Les Noces,” with the Princeton University Glee Club and So Percussion, on Dec. 11. All three concerts will be held at Richardson Auditorium.

    And we’ll have yet another special treat: some recorded comments by Maida Pollock, whose job it was to pull the concert together in 1966, culled from a phone conversation she granted from her current home in Hawaii. We’ll hear those around 9:00.

    I hope you’ll join me for this multi-faceted salute to Igor Stravinsky, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ve always got an ear for Igor, on Classic Ross Amico.

  • Princeton Symphony Concert Tonight

    Princeton Symphony Concert Tonight

    In just a few minutes, I’ll be joined by Marc Uys, executive director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, who will drop by the studio around 9:00 to tell us about a special concert that will take place at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium tonight at 8 p.m.

    Violinist Daniel Rowland will be soloist in and conductor of Astor Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” which will be interleaved with the concertos of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” Rowland has performed the program many times and has even made a very fine recording of it (from which we will sample). Then we’ll hear Piazzolla himself performing some of his own music on the bandoneon.

    Also yet to come this morning, Benny Goodman plays Bartok and Keith Jarrett plays Barber, with an early work by famed film composer John Williams written for Stan Kenton, “Prelude and Fugue,” coming up in just a few minutes.

    It’s classical music played by jazz artists, with perhaps just a hint of “Third Stream,” until 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM at wprb.com.

  • Maxwell Davies at Princeton Returns

    Maxwell Davies at Princeton Returns

    Sir Peter Maxwell Davies returns to Princeton University! Maxwell Davies attended Princeton on a Harkness Fellowship, which he secured with the help of Aaron Copland and Benjamin Britten in 1962. This morning, from deep beneath Bloomberg Hall, we honor the angry young man of Manchester, who went on to become Master of the Queen’s Music, on what would have been his 82nd birthday.

    The composer lived in the Orkney Islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, for his last 45 years. We’ll have all music on Scottish themes and of Scottish inspiration, whether that inspiration be the Celtic folk traditions of Maxwell Davies’ adopted land or the austere seascapes churning outside his cottage.

    At Princeton, Max studied with Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt and Earl Kim. His own music could be madcap and iconoclastic, drawing from a dizzying array of sources, ranging from Renaissance polyphony to foxtrots.

    No one during those early years, least of all Max, would have expected him to embrace the time-honored form of the symphony. In the event, he wrote ten of them. They are austere affairs that require careful attention, imbued with the composer’s coastal impressions and frequently compared to the great masterworks of Jean Sibelius. Maxwell Davies is regarded as the foremost British symphonist of his generation. Be that as it may, the symphonies are not exactly an easy listen.

    We’ll be sampling from Max’s Scottish works, whether they be charming or severe, alongside pieces by others who hailed from Scotland, were of Scottish descent, or just plain loved to visit.

    You take the high road and I’ll take the low road, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Our love for Max is like a red, red rose, on Classic Ross Amico.

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