Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Princeton

Kirill Gerstein Plays Liszt in Princeton

Pianist Kirill Gerstein will bring his transcendental technique to Princeton on Monday at 7:30 p.m., when he returns to McCarter Theatre Center with a recital that will include a selection of Franz Liszt’s “Transcendental Etudes.”

“They are showpieces, but in a much broader sense,” Gerstein says. “One could really say that Liszt, despite his enormous popularity, in some way is very much still an underrated composer. I think a lot of listeners and even some colleagues are distracted and partly disturbed by the flamboyance of some of the writing. But it is just one aspect, and a relatively small aspect, when you look at his entire, prodigious output. He was a serious composer and a fundamental musical force that really affected the course of music history. Of course he has his moments of being a superstar and tossing off glitter, which is also fine and part of life, but I don’t think that he was superficial.”

Gerstein has been touring the Etudes, with stops this month in Brussels, Liverpool and Vienna. He has recorded the entire cycle for the myrios classics label.

His McCarter program will also include sonatas by Beethoven (including the “Moonlight”) and Brahms (the Sonata No. 2) and four duets by Bach. Princeton Emeritus Professor Scott Burnham will deliver a pre-concert lecture at 6:30.

Gerstein will arrive at McCarter hot off a run of concerts with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark on Friday at 8 p.m., at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank on Saturday at 8 p.m., and at Mayo Performing Arts Center – MPAC in Morristown on Sunday at 3 p.m.

On March 1, he’ll join the Hagen Quartett for Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor at Carnegie Hall. The Hagen Quartet will appear at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium on March 2 at 8:00 p.m., as part of the Princeton University Concerts series.

Read more of Gerstein’s thoughts on Liszt’s ‘Transcendental Etudes’ in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2017/02/classical_music_kirill_gerstei.html

February 24, 2017
Snow Day No Ross Amico on WPRB

Due to the impending weather event (up to 12 inches of snow according to some sources), I hope you won’t mind too awfully if I sit out for “Classic Ross Amico” tomorrow morning on WPRB. My car is barely road-worthy even under the best of circumstances, and anyway I’ve been sick for the past two days (hence my paper-thin tone by the end of my air shifts). Taking a break will allow me to sit in my pajamas all day, propped up in bed, reading a book.

Who or what, exactly, will take my place is uncertain. It might be a Princeton student or at any rate someone within walking distance of the station, or it might be the automation, which could not by any means pass for classical. (I’m told this will change, beginning in the 5 a.m. hour, in the coming weeks.) For as much as I would love to do a snow show, it would hinge on my actually being able to get to the station to do one! All in all, this could be a good time to reacquaint yourselves with your CD collections.

Thank you for your interest. I’m hoping to be back next Thursday, from 6 to 11 a.m., on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com, with Classic Ross Amico.

UPDATE: It looks as if the shift will be split between two student DJs, Nicky and Bobby, starting at 7 a.m. They’ll likely draw pretty heavily from the station’s arcana section, so a lot of the music will be contemporary and/or avant-garde. The name Pauline Oliveros has been bandied. Thanks, guys!

February 9, 2017
Westminster Choir College Protest Princeton

If you’re in the Princeton area, and you just can’t sleep, Westminster Choir College is holding a 24-hour marathon performance-protest against its overlord university.

Rider University, desperate to shore up its own finances, is floating the idea of absorbing the operation of the Princeton music school into its Lawrenceville campus. Of course that would mean the primary artifacts of Westminster’s history, in the form of its neo-Georgian buildings, quadrangles, and invigorating greenery, would be left behind for a new owner to do with what it will. How Rider would propose to move all those organs is anyone’s idea.

Anyway, the marathon began at 11:00 this morning and will run through 11:00 tomorrow morning at Nassau Presbyterian Church. Performances will include the college’s bottomless arsenal of pianists, organists, harpists, and of course singers, with solidarity appearances by Princeton Girlchoir and Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus.

Nassau Presbyterian Church is located at 61 Nassau Street in Princeton. Just be aware that Princeton doesn’t like cars to be left on many of its streets after 2 a.m.

You can read more about it here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/Westminster-Choir-College-begins-24-hour-performance-protest.html

And here:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2017/01/westminster_choir_college_musicians_sing_oppositio.html

February 1, 2017
Save Westminster Choir College in Princeton

Anybody else care about keeping Westminster Choir College in Princeton (as opposed to it being relegated to the music department of Rider University)? Sign the petition now.

Article:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2016/12/hundreds_sign_petition_against_selling_moving_west.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Petition:

https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-unification-of-the-westminster-choir-college-campus-and-the-rider-campus

December 12, 2016
Affetto Records Revives Classical Music

“The philosophy of the label is very simple,” says John C. Baker, founder of Affetto Records. “We want to bring high-end musicians through a world of broadcast and CD distribution to people who may not have heard them before or know of them, with unique recordings of world premiere music – new arrangements, new compositions – and that’s basically what we have done in the last year.”

Baker, a multi-Grammy nominated producer and recording engineer, established the Princeton-based Affetto in 2004 for the purpose of a jazz release. It was revived only last year to serve reputable classical musicians who were having difficulty finding labels willing to record them.

“They were having trouble getting their recordings released,” he says. “It has become so much more difficult in this world of decreasing CD impact, although classical music is one of the only genres in which CD sales are still increasing, especially overseas. So I was encouraged, shall we say, to start my own label.”

One of those musicians was Elmira Darvarova, former concert master of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Darvarova performs on Affetto’s most recent release, “Amalgam,” an unusual venture, which places her alongside Indian sarod master Amjad Ali Kahn, his two sons, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan, and tabla player Tanmoy Bose. The album was released overseas through an arrangement with Times Music, India’s largest record label and music publisher.

“Amalgam” is only the most recent of a stimulating – and growing – catalog of recordings in Affetto’s stable, including first issues of music by Bach, Mendelssohn, Cyril Scott, and composers of American art song.

Since 1992, Baker has recorded more than 200 albums, both self-released and for other labels. He engineers many of the live concerts heard on WWFM – The Classical Network and contributes to both NPR and PRI.

Find out more about it in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/08/classical_music_princeton_prod.html

August 12, 2016

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