Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Spanish Music

Spanish Classics on The Lost Chord Radio Show

Hola! This week on “The Lost Chord,” I’ll be dipping deep into the archive for a 2007 show devoted to Spanish classics from the Naxos catalogue.

We’ll enjoy rarely heard works by Joaquín Rodrigo (his “Preludio para un poema a la Alhambra,“ from 1928), Basque composer Jesús Guridi (“Asi cantan los chicos” – variously translated as “So the boys sing” or “Thus sing the children” – settings of poems by Juan Carlos Gortázar, from 1915), and Antonio José (“Sinfonía castellana,” of 1923), whose life was cut tragically short by the Spanish Civil War.

Few of us have the time, money, or motivation to hop the Atlantic for the weekend. Happily, as always, music is a passport to a wider world. I hope you’ll join me for “No Spain, No Gain,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

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

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EST/8:00 AM PST

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

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

January 25, 2025
Granados at 150 A Musical Celebration on WPRB

Enrique Granados’ life may have been cut short in 1916, at the age of only 49, but his music continues to age well. Granados is widely celebrated for his evocative aural postcards of his native Spain, most notably his collections of piano miniatures, the “Spanish Dances,” and “Goyescas” (the latter inspired by paintings of Francisco Goya). But there was so much more to this remarkable composer.

Join me this Thursday morning on WPRB, as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Granados’ birth. We’ll get the day started with a full five hours of his music, including an assortment of his rarely-heard orchestral, choral and chamber works, and, yes, even a recording of his one-act opera “Goyescas,” which the composer cannily adapted from his popular piano pieces.

Performers will include Ataulfa Argenta, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Maria Bayo, the Beaux Arts Trio, Montserrat Caballe, Alicia de Larrocha, Victoria de los Angeles, Andres Segovia, Ramón Vargas and Granados himself.

The playlist will also feature the rarely-heard symphonic poem “Dante,” and world premiere recordings of the “Suite on Galician Folk Songs,” “Song of the Stars,” and the lyric poem “Liliana,” as arranged by Granados’ friend and champion Pablo Casals.

If you’re a fan of fandangos with a craving for castanets, you’ll want to join me, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll do it up grand for Granados, on Classic Ross Amico.

July 27, 2017
Remembering Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos & Falla’s Atlántida

The Spanish conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos died on Wednesday at the age of 80. Tonight on “The Lost Chord,” we celebrate his artistry with highlights from a recording he made in 1978 of the scenic cantata “Atlántida” by Manuel de Falla.

“Atlántida” tells the story of the lost continent of Atlantis, with appearances by Hercules; Pyrene, the Queen of the Pyrenees; the Hesperides (nymphs who tend a blissful garden); Queen Isabella; and a shipwrecked Christopher Columbus.

Interestingly, Falla eschews the overtly Spanish idioms that make his ballets, “El Amor Brujo” and “The Three-Cornered Hat,” so insistently memorable. The result is something much more austere, akin to the choral works of Stravinsky and Arthur Honegger.

It is Falla’s most ambitious work, at which he labored for 20 years, up until his death in 1946. The composer envisioned it to be his magnum opus, yet it is very seldom heard. Falla disciple Ernesto Halffter arranged the incomplete sketches into a performing edition, which he conducted at the work’s premiere in 1961. He revised the piece in 1976, at the request of Falla’s publisher, allegedly bringing the work closer to the composer’s vision.

Frühbeck de Burgos recorded it two years later. He retained affection for the piece for the remainder of his life, conducting a generous suite of highlights with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as recently as 2010.

That’s “Farewell to Frühbeck,” remembering Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. You can enjoy it tonight at 10 ET, with a repeat Thursday night at 11; or listen to it later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.

June 15, 2014

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