Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Radio

Where Have All the Oratorios Gone?

It’s January 6. Epiphany. The Feast of the Three Kings. The Christian feast day that marks, among other things, the Magi’s visit to the Christ Child.

I know I’ve lamented in the past about how so many of the magnificent classical music Christmas works of the past millennium have disappeared from the airwaves. Of the larger works, it seems only Handel’s “Messiah,” Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio,” and of course Tchaikovsky’s (secular) “The Nutcracker” are guaranteed.

Thankfully, I have an enormous record library with at least three shelves devoted exclusively to Christmas music, so I’m able to work through a lot of the forgotten and/or neglected masterworks at home and in the car. But it’s not the same as somebody else pulling and programming the music and knowing that I am part of a unified listening community.

I feel the same way when watching a movie that is broadcast, or actually in a theater, as opposed to playing it from my own collection or streaming it. It’s wonderful to live in an age when these things are possible, but it is just not the same as knowing that I’m a part of a communal experience. (That said, I’m certainly not going to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” on network television with a thousand commercial breaks!)

I must give a tip of the Ebenezer Scrooge top hat to Yle Klassinen in Helsinki for airing Franz Liszt’s “Christus” complete. That station really is a marvel. Oh how I love my digital radio! Of course, I don’t speak Finnish, but I can usually make out the performers when they are announced and the playlists are posted online.

Anyway, I had already listened to the Dorati recording on my own time. I’ve done so for many, many years. It’s enriched my Christmases ever since I first encountered it on the air, broadcast on Philadelphia’s late, lamented WFLN, back in the early 1980s. Time was, when serious classical Christmas music commenced with Advent. Yes, it was leavened with gems like Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s “Carol Symphony,” the aforementioned “Nutcracker,” and Leopold Mozart’s “A Musical Sleigh-Ride,” in the hilarious recording by the Eduard Melkus Ensemble that includes the neighing horses and barking dogs. I looked forward to hearing that every year. I snapped it up when it was reissued on compact disc and have included it in my own broadcasts for decades.

Those works have their place, but it seems the serious, large-scale choral works are all going away. Commerce, secularism, short attention spans, ignorance, and grievance all work against the simple enjoyment of a lot of masterful music. It’s much safer to play three-minute arrangements of familiar Christmas carols. Over and over and over again.

I grant you, three hours is a lot of radio real estate to give up to Liszt’s “Christus.” But can’t anyone even carve out an hour for Vaughan Williams’ “Hodie?” I suppose I should just shut up and be thankful that RVW’s “Fantasia on Christmas Carols” is still in rotation.

I count myself very fortunate to have been able to share “Christus” many times over the years. I know I’ve played it complete on WXLV, WPRB, and WWFM – once I even preempted the weekly opera broadcast – and excerpted the purely orchestral movements even more frequently, working them into my morning and afternoon playlists. “The March of the Three Holy Kings” is a high point.

I am sorry I don’t have a stretch of air-time during which to play it for you now, but the entire Dorati recording of the oratorio (one of three recordings I own, and still my preferred) is posted on YouTube.

If you want to cut to the chase, here’s the march of the Kings.

Think it sounds an awful lot like Wagner’s Wotan? There’s likely a reason for that. I’ve posted about it before.

https://rossamico.com/2023/01/06/three-kings-music-mystery-wagner-liszt/

I try to be sensitive to other people’s faiths and belief systems, and frankly I am no zealot, but when it comes to music, I am very much a fundamentalist. This is not about pushing Christianity down anyone’s throat as much as a desire to preserve and disseminate the sublime Christmas works, many of them by top-tier composers, presented, like the classic movies on TCM, complete and uncut.

Of course, most of these recordings I’ve played over the years are from my own collection. I was very fortunate to be able to do my own programming, for hours at a time, for the better part of three decades. In such a situation, when a radio host loses his platform, countless hours of repertoire go with him. You’ll still get “Messiah,” but you probably won’t get Josef Rheinberger’s “The Star of Bethlehem” (here posted as a playlist of nine separate videos).

Rutland Boughton’s “Bethlehem” is another Christmas work I’m crazy about. You won’t find it in many record libraries at radio stations here in the U.S. But I’ve got it, and I’ve aired it. Rather than write about it again, I’ll refer you to one of my teasers from a few years ago.

https://rossamico.com/2017/12/21/merlin-in-bethlehem-a-christmas-music-surprise/

If you’re a Vaughan Williams fan, I think you will find it delightful. For a long time, I was unable to share any of the audio online, due to Hyperion Records’ justifiably Draconian practice of not allowing any its recordings on YouTube. But the company is now in other hands, so here it is, finally, as a playlist – albeit with the tracks posted separately, so prepare to have to skip an occasional ad.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, your resident classical music curmudgeon gives to you… three Christmas oratorios. If I splurged for a dozen, this post would be four times the length!

Have yourself a merry “Little Christmas!”

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IMAGE: Detail from Edward Burne-Jones’ “Adoration of the Magi”

January 6, 2026
Ghost of Hanukkah Music Past

At a certain radio station I worked at for nearly 30 years, until I was knocked out of the box by COVID, we put together “theme streams” for holidays and “round” musical birthdays. (I recall participating in streams dedicated to Bruckner, Mahler, and Bernstein, and one devoted to masses!) These involved recording hour-long segments which ran continuously for a set period of time and could be accessed through the station website.

For holidays, we started with Christmas, and of course, I went bananas with it. I can’t tell you how many hours I recorded, and the music was not all the usual stuff – although naturally I interleaved plenty of familiar carols, in interesting arrangements, some by notable composers, some performed by luminous choirs, and some caressed or belted out by the great opera singers. I have a very broad concept of what constitutes Christmas music, and there were plenty of sleigh-rides and wintry scenes interleaved with hundreds of years of classical Christmas works and more popular melodies.

In 2015, we added a Hanukkah stream, which ran for eight days prior to the Christmas stream. I came across this two-hour playlist I compiled, while searching through some old emails yesterday. Of course, I continue to learn new music and listen to new recordings all the time, and had we continued with the theme streams, and if I were still employed there, unquestionably I would have contributed additional hours.

It occurs to me that I probably have the audio for all these produced segments around here somewhere. But for now, on the first day of Hanukkah, I thought you might enjoy running an eye over my playlist for that first Hanukkah theme stream. Keep in mind, there were other segments produced by other hosts, so this is not intended to be comprehensive. But I tried my best with the limited material I then had at my disposal to keep the two hours varied and festive.

Chag sameach!

SEGMENT 1
————-

RAYMOND GOLDSTEIN – B’rakhot L’hanukka (4:56)
Cantor Simon Spiro/Coro Hebraeico/Neil Levin NAXOS 8.559410

JOHN DUFFY – Heritage: Three Jewish Portraits (10:00)
Milwaukee Sym./Zdenek Macal KOSS CLASSICS 1022

SRUL IRVING GLICK – Suite Hebraique No. 5 (15:15)
Suzanne Shulman, flute; James Campbell, clarinet; Andrew Dawes, violin; Daniel Domb, cello CBC 1046

JOSHUA JACOBSON – Chanukah Variations (7:02)
Zamir Chorale of Boston/Joshua Jacobson HZ 901

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN – 12 Variations on a Theme from Handel’s “Judas Maccabaeus” (11:47)
Mischa Maisky, cello; Martha Argerich, piano DG 437 514-2

VAR./TRAD. – A Taste of Chanukah (11:48)
New England Conservatory Jewish Music Ensemble/Theodore Bikel, Judith Berkson, Elizabeth Parvin, Rebecca Shrimpton, Cantor Morton Shames, vocals ROUNDER 3165

JOHN LEVENTHAL – 1902 (3:49)
John Leventhal and The Mels SIX DEGREES 162-531 069-2

SEGMENT 2
————-

JEFF WARSCHAUER – Dem Helfland’s Tants/The Elephant’s Dance (4:46)
Ensemble/Jeff Warschauer, mandolin; David Harris, trombone OMEGA 3027

LUKAS FOSS – Salomon Rossi Suite (7:48)
Brooklyn Philharmonic/Lukas Foss NEW WORLD 375-2

SALAMONE ROSSI – Psalm 118 (4:49)
The King’s Singers WORLD VILLAGE 468052

SERGEI PROKOFIEV – Overture on Hebrew Themes (7:53)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Claudio Abbado DG 429 396-2

ABRAHAM ELLSTEIN – Hassidic Dance (5:07)
David Krakauer, clarinet/Berlin Radio Sym./Gerard Schwarz NAXOS 8.559403

ABRAHAM ELLSTEIN – Oygn/Eyes (4:02)
Elizabeth Shammash, mezzo-soprano/Vienna Chamber Orch./Elli Jaffe NAXOS 8.559405

ZAMIR BAVEL – Hanukkah Fantasy (12:52)
Tuscon Sym./George Hanson ZPBI 2000

MICHAEL ISAACSON – Aspects of a Great Miracle (9:58)
Souhern Chorale, University of Southern Mississippi/Tim Koch NAXOS 8.559410

LAZAR WEINER – Yosl Klezmer/Yosl the Musician (2:13)
Raphael Frieder, baritone; Yehudi Wyner, piano NAXOS 8.559443

————-
PHOTO: Chicago Habonim dancers celebrate the first day of Hanukkah in 1958

December 15, 2025
Halloween Radio Special on KWAX

Since Halloween falls on a Friday this year – one week from today – I hope you’ll indulge me this weekend as all three of my radio shows will tie in to my favorite holiday.

First, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies (Friday at 8:00 p.m. EDT/5:00 p.m. PDT), we’ll enjoy scores from spooky or macabre comedies, including “Arsenic and Old Lace” (Max Steiner), “The Trouble with Harry” (Bernard Herrmann), “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” (Vic Mizzy), and “Beetlejuice” (Danny Elfman).

Then, tomorrow on “Sweetness and Light” (Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT), it will be a light music Halloween, with spooktacular selections associated with haunted ballrooms, ostracized imps, reanimated skeletons, nimble witches, adept sorcerers, ghost removal specialists, consumerist zombies, dancing lunatics, boogey men, headless horsemen, boy wizards, and galloping devils.

Finally, on “The Lost Chord” (Saturday at 7:00 p.m. EDT/4:00 p.m. PDT), écoutez to French music for the season, including Maurice Ravel’s “Gaspard de la nuit,” after grotesque poetry of Aloysius Bertrand (with pianist Gina Bachauer and narrator Sir John Gielgud), a fragment of an unfinished opera inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Claude Debussy, and an etude subtitled “Scherzo diabolico” by the misanthropic and reclusive Charles-Valentin Alkan.

But wait! There’s more!

Since “Picture Perfect” falls on a Friday, I’ll have one more chance next week, on Halloween proper, when I’ll offer a playlist of evocative and ear-catching vintage horror and science fiction scores from the 1950s, with enough narration and gaudy sound effects to provide the perfect soundtrack for your Trick-or-Treat.

All air times for the above shows are reiterated below. Stream them wherever you are from KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

October 24, 2025
Remembering Philadelphia Jazz Legend Bob Perkins

Anyone who’s listened to jazz on the radio in Philadelphia is familiar with Bob Perkins’ shorthand. “BP with the GM” signifies “Bob Perkins with the Good Music,” naturally.

During my time at WRTI, if I happened to be filling in on an afternoon classical shift, he and I crossed paths occasionally. (The station segues from classical to jazz at 6:00.) Knowing his sly sense of humor, I offered once, “It’s not every day that British Petroleum meets American Oil Company” – a play on BP and Amico (Amoco). His rejoinder had something to do with both of us being full of gas.

I just learned from this tribute by Kile Smith that Perkins died yesterday at the age of 91. I beg your indulgence for my trafficking in cliché, but with his passing, we lost a piece of living history, with a lifetime of accrued knowledge that truly was encyclopedic. You know how people say, “He’s forgotten more than I’ll ever know?” That was Bob. He actually knew most of the Philadelphia artists, stretching back decades, whose recordings he played.

In his 60-some years in the media, he met countless figures from the worlds of arts and entertainment, politics, radio and TV – people like Nancy Wilson, Johnny Hartman, Billy Eckstine, and Mercer Ellington. As a newsman and editorialist, he was invited to the White House twice, during the Ford and Carter administrations. He was the recipient of numerous honors and awards for his achievements in the field of broadcast.

Beneath the effortless cool Kile describes (and Perkins had it in spades), he also possessed impeccable taste. Whether it was Yusef Lateef’s “Love Theme from Spartacus” or Dakota Staton’s “The Late, Late Show,” I always did enjoy his GM.

I was active at WRTI for a little over two years, hired as an on-call classical host, who somehow wound up holding down a regular overnight jazz shift. How crazy is that? I even filled in on “Sunday Jazz Brunch” once or twice. But I was little more than keeping the chair warm for Bob. All the same, it was an honor for me to be able to share the air waves with him, if only for a short time. R.I.P.

January 21, 2025
Debussy Clair de Lune Remembering Margaret

On Claude Debussy’s birthday anniversary, I remember one of my radio listeners, now no longer with us, and her fondness for “Clair de lune.”

The station I was with at the time had offered, as a fundraising incentive during one of its pledge drives, opportunities for contributors to select a host with whom to co-present two hours of their favorite music. That’s how I met Margaret. Margaret was a retired high school English teacher of 24 years. She was in her early 80s then. It’s been my experience that I get along very well with 80-year-olds. One of her selected pieces was “Clair de lune,” which she said reminded her of her mother, since her mother used to play it on the piano.

We had a lot in common, including the fact that she lived in my hometown of Easton, PA, and the shared experience of the radio show began a four-year friendship, during which she wrote to me frequently. I responded a little less frequently, but not shamefully so, as can sometimes be the case. She would send me photos of her garden, and the animals that visited, and relate her experiences and impressions of the seasons and her favorite places. She was a delightful person. It was a good, old-fashioned, snail-mail correspondence, nothing electronic. I wasn’t even on Facebook yet.

The last time I saw her was on a visit to her home in 2012, after she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. She tried to encourage me to take whatever I wanted, but I had a hard time with it. I was not in an acquisitive mood. Also, I felt as if I took something it would be an admission that it really was the end. Finally, after having been urged repeatedly, I selected a rolled-up copy of a poster of a panoramic view of Easton in autumn, of which she had several. She enjoyed quite a view from the window of her living room herself.

Margaret died nine days later, in December 2012. I still have her letters and a mug she gave me, with a reproduction of Franz Marc’s “The Dream.” We were both fans of the Blue Rider school and had visited an exhibition, separately, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Ironically, my mother is buried probably within a mile of her home.

This is no reflection on Margaret (and I think she would find that aside amusing), but here’s an abridged version of Debussy’s enduring piano piece, played for an 80-year-old elephant.

This was the version we played on the show.

Deleted segment from Disney’s “Fantasia,” with an orchestral version conducted by Leopold Stokowski

Happy birthday, Claude Debussy, and thinking of you, Margaret, wherever you are.

August 22, 2024

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