Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Ross Amico

Blood Moons Popes & Purrs on WPRB

Some regard a “blood moon” eclipse as a portent of the End of Days. Others blanch at the cataclysmic implications of swapped air shifts.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/doomsday-predicted-as-blood-moon-coincides-with-sukkot/

Chances are you will either be in synagogue this morning, or you’ll wish you were, when flighty bird Classic Ross Amico sits in for the always reliable Marvin Rosen at WPRB. Ah well, we might as well make the best of it.

We’ll be jumping on the media bandwagon this week to salute Pope Francis and maybe grumble a little bit about the situation in Philadelphia, where the Pope Fence is going up and tow trucks are impounding cars all across Center City.

We’ll honor the Pope (it’s not his fault) with music inspired by his namesake, St. Francis. Francis brought forth musical tributes from many composers across the centuries. We’ll hear from Kenneth Fuchs, Paul Hindemith, Franz Liszt, Francis Poulenc, Joaquin Rodrigo, Sir William Walton, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Leo Sowerby.

Also, because of Francis’ well-known affinity with and for the critters, we’ll leaven the proceedings with works evocative of the animal kingdom, pieces like Samuel Barber’s “The Monk and His Cat,” Jennifer Higdon’s “An Exaltation of Larks,” Peter Schickele’s “Bestiary,” and of course Gioachino Rossini’s “Cat Duet.”

Marc Uys, Executive Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, will drop by at around 9:00 to tell us a little bit about the PSO’s upcoming season, which will begin on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium, when violinist Jennifer Koh will perform Anna Clyne’s “The Seamstress” (after a poem of William Butler Yeats) and Rossen Milanov will conduct Sergei Rachmaninoff’s wonderfully wistful Symphony No. 2.

Due to Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries will be heard on THURSDAY this week, from 5:30 to 11 a.m. ET. Despair not! This is only a temporary circumstance. Marvin will return to his regular Wednesday slot next week, and I’ll be back on Thursdays.

For the time being, I hope you’ll join me for St. Francis and friends, this morning from 6 to 11, on WPRB 103.3 FM or online at wprb.com. The fur will fly this week, on Classic Ross Amico.

September 23, 2015
Pope Francis Music on Yom Kippur

As Pope Mania grips the East Coast and anxiety levels skyrocket among Philadelphians who are bracing for a long weekend essentially kept under house arrest, I thought I’d add kerosene to the holy water by filling the airwaves with music in honor of Pope Francis.

How to do a salute to Pope Francis on Yom Kippur and not come across as insensitive? That’s the dilemma I faced when Marvin Rosen asked if I would switch with him for the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

So as not to be reviled as classical radio’s equivalent of Torquemada, I am reshelving some of the masses I had been considering. Instead I have struck upon the happy idea to play works inspired by St. Francis – the Pope’s namesake – and interleaving them with music inspired by animals. St. Francis, after all, had a marvelous affinity for our four-legged friends. And who doesn’t love animals?

I hope you’ll join me, if you’re able, on WEDNESDAY this week, to enjoy Francis-oriented works by Hindemith, Liszt, Poulenc, Rodrigo, Walton, Leo Sowerby and Kenneth Fuchs, and plenty of music for the critters. I’ll be handing out the treats from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, on Classic Ross Amico.

Then come back on THURSDAY morning for Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries. Sleep isn’t so important to Marvin, so he’ll be there, as always, from 5:30 to 11, keeping company with the roosters, at WPRB 103.3 FM or online at wprb.com.

September 21, 2015
Shanah Tovah Radio: Jewish Composers on WPRB

Shanah tovah!

Once again, if you’re Jewish, allow me to wish you a sweet and happy new year. If you’re not, I hope you’ll sit back and enjoy the music, as tomorrow morning on WPRB, I’ll be offering works by Jewish composers and/or on Jewish themes.

By request, I’ll continue a WPRB tradition, initiated by the great Teri Noel Towe, of airing a recording of Pablo Casals in Max Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei.” I also have “Kol Nidre” settings by Jacob Weinberg, Arnold Schoenberg and Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek. That’s right – he, of “Donna Diana” fame.

Not all of these composers were Jewish, of course. I’ll give the goys some poise with music on Jewish themes by Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Maurice Ravel, and John McCabe’s “Chagall Windows,” inspired by the stained glass creations that frame the synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

And let’s not forget John Duffy’s Emmy Award-winning music for the PBS television series “Heritage: Civilization and the Jews.”

I’ve got a box full of CDs featuring works by Paul Ben-Haim, Herman Berlinski, Leonard Bernstein, Ernest Bloch, David Diamond, Matthew H. Fields, Lukas Foss, Srul Irving Glick, Alexander Krein, Paul Schoenfield, Leon Stein, David Stock, Franz Waxman, and Philadelphia natives Louis Gesensway and Amanda Harberg.

Just how much of this music I’ll actually be able to get on the air remains to be seen. Prepare to be awed by music for the Days of Awe, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com. We’re all sticky with apples and honey on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Learn the proper way to make a shofar here:

https://sites.temple.edu/historynews/2013/09/04/from-the-philadelphia-jewish-archives-shana-tova-happy-jewish-new-year/

September 16, 2015
David Amram at Philadelphia Folk Fest

As mentioned on Classic Ross Amico (where we are currently enjoying David Amram’s “Theme and Variations on ‘Red River Valley’”), here is a clip of the ceaselessly energetic Amram performing at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 2011 at the age of 80.

Hear more American music, in anticipation of Labor Day though 11 a.m. ET, at WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com.

September 3, 2015
Labor Day American Classics on WPRB

I am toiling at programming right now so that I might get you in the mood for Labor Day tomorrow morning on WPRB. Unsurprisingly, I will be playing all American music, though not all of it will be labor-oriented.

Composers you may hear will include David Amram, Romeo Cascarino, John Corigliano, David Diamond, Howard Hanson, Paul Lansky, Jerome Moross, Stephen Paulus, Walter Piston and Elie Siegmeister.

I can pretty much guarantee that you will hear a symphony by Lukas Foss from a new recording of the complete set of four by Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP).

Labor-oriented pieces will include “John Henry” by Aaron Copland, “Skyscrapers” by John Alden Carpenter, and “Flivver Ten Million” – complete with foundry noises – by Frederick Shepherd Converse. In addition, Princeton’s own Paul Robeson will sing the labor anthem “Joe Hill.”

Get ready to punch the clock tomorrow morning at 6 ET. I’ll be with you until 11, on WPRB 103.3 FM or online at wprb.com, busting my hump on Classic Ross Amico.

September 2, 2015

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS