Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Sweetness and Light

Bastille Day Music on Sweetness and Light

Admittedly, there’s not much “sweetness” or “light” in revolution. Nevertheless, I hope you’ll join me, as we anticipate Bastille Day this morning on “Sweetness and Light.”

We’ll have music on French patriotic themes by Franz Liszt, Georges Bizet, and Hector Berlioz, a symphony by Revolutionary Era composer Etienne-Nicolas Méhul (also a favorite of Napoleon), and a selection from the collaborative ballet “The Wedding on the Eiffel Tower” – set at the iconic Paris landmark on July 14 (Bastille Day) – by Germaine Tailleferre.

The playlist was thoughtfully curated in commemoration of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, a defining moment of the French Revolution that toppled the monarchy and abolished feudalism. But I’m a lover, not a fighter.

Vive la sucrosité et la légèreté on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it, wherever you are, at the link.

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

July 13, 2024
KWAX Classical Radio Home of Picture Perfect Sweetness and Light

I receive a shout-out in this write-up about KWAX from 2013 (at the link). I hasten to emphasize, the article is 11 years old! Still, the station is much the same, even if some of the shows on its roster have changed. It’s rare that classical music hosts are allowed to choose their own music. All the more reason to cherish the station.

https://northwestreverb.blogspot.com/2013/05/terry-ross-on-kwax-classical-radio.html

This week’s “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” are ready to go. I’m in the process of recording my Saturday morning show, “Sweetness and Light,” right now. It’s a celebration of Bastille Day, so yes, lots of French music to come (and some Franz Liszt). The current air times for all three shows are posted below.

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

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

July 11, 2024
Classical Music Radio Beyond the Local Station

No more blather and bleeding chunks from the local classical music station. Enjoying complete works, such as Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade after Plato’s Symposium,” Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra,” and Frederic Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1, introduced by mellifluous fellow Trenton-Princeton radio exile Peter Van de Graaff on KWAX this morning, courtesy of digital radio. A whole world of classical music radio broadcasts now at my fingertips, enjoyable without the intermediation of a smart phone or laptop. A liberating windfall from my recent birthday! My light music program, “Sweetness and Light,” begins at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT. Enjoy an hour of beach music at kwax.uoregon.edu.

July 6, 2024
Herrmann Patriotism on Sweetness and Light

When the plan is to get a jump on Independence Day, but it’s also Bernard Herrmann’s birthday – and you don’t have a film music show on Saturday – what’s one to do? Why, include Herrmann’s score for “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot” on “Sweetness and Light,” of course!

“Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot” (1957) is the longest continuously-exhibited film of all time, shown at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center for over five decades. (Screenings were interrupted during the pandemic, but have resumed, now with four shows daily.) Peppered with recognizable patriotic tunes from the Revolutionary era, the charming score includes quotations from “Yankee Doodle” and the William Billings hymn “Chester.”

The music will be the centerpiece on this morning’s program, as we anticipate the Fourth of July and light some candles on a red, white and blue birthday cake for Herrmann, who also wrote the music for “Citizen Kane,” “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “Psycho,” “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad,” and “Taxi Driver.”

In addition, we’ll have some selections on patriotic airs by Dudley Buck and Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a festive work for band, “Celebrating the Fourth,” by Princeton-area composer Samuel A. Livingston, “Fireworks” by Jerry Goldsmith, and an incendiary performance of a march by John Philip Sousa, in transcription for solo piano.

I’ve always had an INDEPENDENT streak (having been born on the FOURTH myself), so I’ve taken the LIBERTY to PURSUE HAPPINESS, even if it is still June. Feel FREE to join me for an hour of flag-waving and sparklers on “Sweetness and Light,” music calculated to charm and to cheer, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTOS: Herrmann fuels his genius, with stills from “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot,” starring Jack Lord!

June 29, 2024
Midsummer Night Fairy Music on KWAX

How now, spirit! Whither wander you?

June 23rd is St. John’s Eve, otherwise known as Midsummer Night. In anticipation of the occasion, I invite you to begin your Saturday on “Sweetness and Light” with an hour of fairy music, all of it tying in, in one way or another, with Oberon, king of the fairies, Titania, his queen, and his feeewheeling servant, Puck. Oh yes, and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

We’ll enjoy selections by Carl Maria von Weber, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Walter Leigh, Henry Purcell, Montague Phillips, Erik Satie, and Ambroise Thomas.

Rather audacious of me, I know, but one thing we will NOT hear is the famous incidental music by Felix Mendelssohn! But we hear that all the time, anyway.

It will be as if Puck administered love-in-idleness nectar to your ears, when we’re lost in the musical enchantment of Midsummer Night, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

June 22, 2024

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS