Classic Ross Amico

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Pierre Boulez Radical Avant-Garde Composer

“Blow the opera houses up!”

“All the art of the past should be destroyed!”

“A musician who has not experienced… the necessity for the dodecaphonic language is USELESS!”

“From Schoenberg’s pen flows a stream of infuriating clichés!”

“The Paris opera is full of dust and crap! Operatic tourists make me want to vomit!”

Pierre Boulez could be provocative and full of contradictions. The gadfly of modern music died on Tuesday at the age of 90. I hope you’ll join me as we celebrate this radical figure of the avant-garde, who in his later years found value even in the music of Strauss and Bruckner.

It’s all Pierre Boulez this morning, from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We “excite the curiosity of the snobs,” on Classic Ross Amico.

January 7, 2016
Christmas Music Mix on Classic Ross Amico

I’m sure many of you have been swept into the Christmas maelstrom by now. I’ve got so much to do myself, I shouldn’t even be hosting this program.

Be that as it may, I hope I am able to provide a warm soundtrack to your morning, as you dash to wrap everything up at work or spend a good part of your day in the car, running next-to-last-minute errands. (There’s still tomorrow, you know.)

In case you haven’t heard the news, Marvin Rosen has been kind enough to switch with me this week. So Classical Discoveries will be heard tomorrow morning, as opposed to today, from 5:30 to 11 ET. Tune in then to hear the third leg of Marvin’s Christmas Trilogy, which will include music of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras. Knowing Marvin, he’ll range a great deal further than Schütz and Praetorius.

I’ll be your host this morning, mixing up a fruit cake full of holiday light music, classic film scores, transporting choral performances, Christmas songs sung by some of the great opera singers, candied sackbuts and crumhorns, some musical sleigh-rides, seasonal works by contemporary composers, and a garland of cozy Christmas nostalgia.

Everybody likes fruit cake, right? RIGHT?

Join me from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com, for a full morning of egg nog and gingerbread. You’ll find me standing under the mistletoe, on Classic Ross Amico.

December 23, 2015
Schoenberg’s Christmas Music Surprise

Arnold Schoenberg wrote Christmas music? If you’re an early riser, you’ll get to hear his “Weihnachtsmusik,” a delightful work based on German Christmas carols. It will be the first of a morning full of stocking stuffers, as we listen to five hours of music for the season.

There will be serene choral music, contemporary settings of some very old texts, abundant sleigh bells, boar’s head carols, Christmas songs sung by some of the great voices, and music inspired by the writings of Charles Dickens (and perhaps not the ones you think).

Join me for a Christmas pudding and “Partridge Pie” (literally, Richard Rodney Bennett’s take on “The Twelve Days of Christmas”) this morning from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll be stringing a garland of cranberries and popcorn – and you won’t have to worry about pricking your fingers – on Classic Ross Amico.

December 17, 2015
WPRB Holiday Music Mix Happy New Year

Happy Holidays, Season’s Greetings, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tomorrow morning on WPRB, I will be offering a mix of the sacred and the secular, with winter scenes and Christmas music from a wide variety of countries and traditions.

Do not expect a lot of the “same old, same old.” Undoubtedly there will be a little bit of that, though I am more likely to play from Liszt’s oratorio “Christus” than Handel’s “Messiah.” We’ll also hear some Christmas film scores, some light music, some lovely choral performances, Christmas songs sung by some of the great opera singers, Early Music, seasonal works by contemporary composers, and music evocative of Christmases past – occasionally long past.

In short, we’ll be making quite merry, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. I hope you’ll join me for a flaming bowl of wassail and a slice of delectable boar’s head, on Classic Ross Amico.

December 16, 2015
More Sibelius? A Sesquicentennial Celebration Part II

When is too much enough? Clearly NOT when it comes to Jean Sibelius.

Even as the music world is sleeping off yesterday’s sesquicentennial anniversary bash, Classic Ross Amico is gearing up for Part II of its #Sibelius150 celebration.

Last week’s playlist was not intended to be a “Part I.” However, the positive feedback received by way of Facebook, via email, and through genuine, old-fashioned, face-to-face conversation had a kind of chemical reaction with the immediate regret I felt at the end of last week’s show of not being able to get around to so much of the music I had wanted to share. Thus, the idea for an ambitious follow-up was spawned.

Last Thursday, we enjoyed classic recordings of Symphonies Nos. 3, 1, 4, and 5; this week, we’ll hear great performances of Symphonies 6, 2, and 7, and possibly even the original 1915 version of No. 5, which is in many respects quite a different piece from the finished (or Finnished?) masterwork of 1919.

And of course, we’ll have plenty of other surprises, many in superb recordings, along the way.

How much Sibelius is too much Sibelius? Tune in tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 ET to test your stoic endurance, on WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com. It ain’t Tapiola until it’s Tapiola this week, on Classic Ross Amico.

December 9, 2015

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