Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Movies Family Community Country

This week on “Picture Perfect,” with Thanksgiving right around the corner, the focus is on movies that celebrate family, community and country.

In 1945, Aaron Copland scored a short semi-documentary for the Office of War Information. “The Cummington Story” relates the gradual acceptance of European war refugees into a cautious but fundamentally decent New England community. The score is pure Americana, with some of the material later finding its way into Copland’s Clarinet Concerto and “Down a Country Lane.”

Thank you, amazing YouTube, for making the complete film available online!

“Field of Dreams,” from 1989, is one of those rare films that has the ability to reduce manly men – even those without father issues – to a pool of tears. Phil Alden Robinson’s superior adaptation of W.P. Kinsella’s novel, “Shoeless Joe,” is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy, in which a man finds redemption, and a new understanding of his father, in the enchanted cornfields of America’s heartland. And it’s all brought about courtesy of America’s pastime, baseball. The evocative score is by James Horner.

“The Best Years of Our Lives,” from 1946, is one of the great American classics. This touching film tells the tale of the three WWII veterans struggling to readjust to civilian life. It isn’t easy, but with the support of family and friends, there’s plenty of hope for the future. Hugo Friedhofer wrote the Academy Award-winning score, earning the film one of its seven Oscars. The orchestrations were by Copland protégé (and composer of “The Big Country”) Jerome Moross.

Finally, from 2012, Daniel Day-Lewis elevated Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” to greatness with one of the most amazing performances ever captured on film. Day-Lewis’ gentle but shrewd Man of Destiny would go to any lengths to hold the country together. John Williams tapped into America’s proud musical heritage, clearly influenced by Copland and Ives, to create a score of stirring nobility.

I hope you’ll join me as we give thanks for family, community and country on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Friday evening at 6 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

November 18, 2016
Thanksgiving Radio WPRB Americana Music

It’s never too early to be thankful. Therefore, I hope you’ll join me early tomorrow morning on WPRB, as we look ahead to Thanksgiving.

We’ll enjoy Matthew Brown’s setting of “Table Grace” (on a text by Garrison Keillor) and Eric Whitacre’s “I thank you God for most this amazing day,” alongside Quincy Porter’s “New England Episodes” (evocative of the region’s Puritan past), John Adams’ “Shaker Loops,” and one of Alan Hovhaness’ most fascinating symphonies, the Symphony No. 60 “To the Appalachian Mountains,” informed by the composer’s study of shape notes, mountain music and folk poetry.

It’s a cornucopia of Americana for Thanksgiving, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. To the tables and stuff yourselves, on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Seldom has cheesecake sat so well atop turkey

November 17, 2016
Pilgrim’s Progress Thanksgiving on WPRB

In the words of the Duke, “Whoa, take ‘er easy there, Pilgrim.”

It’s understandable that the Pilgrims would have been agitated. By the time the Mayflower left England, they had already been living on board ship for a month and a half. Then 300 miles out to sea, the Mayflower’s sister ship, the ironically named Speedwell, began to leak and they had to return to port. The now extremely overcrowded Mayflower embarked once more. It took 66 days to cross the Atlantic. By the time they finally landed, well north of their projected target of Northern Virginia (the territory then encompassing the Hudson Valley), they had long exhausted their supply of sandwiches and their collective blood sugar level was plummeting. Fortunately, the locals were kind enough to help them out, and Puritanism took root in America. And we’ve been paying for it ever since.

Still, we, like the Pilgrims, have much to be thankful for, and this morning on WPRB we’ll celebrate our good fortune with music by American composers on the subjects of gratitude, flight from religious persecution, the torments of Puritanical repression, Native American themes, and New England, Southern and mountain folk music and hymn tunes.

So go ahead and help yourself to a second slice. It will be more powerful than a tryptophan coma, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll be loosening our belts in front of the football game, on Classic Ross Amico.

November 17, 2016
New England Movies Music & Thanksgiving

The inclusion of “The Cummington Story” (1945) on this week’s “Picture Perfect” made me reflect on current events. The short semi-documentary, made for the Office of War Information, relates the gradual acceptance of European war refugees into a cautious but fundamentally decent New England community. I try to stay off politics if I can help it, but I couldn’t help but notice a parallel with what’s going on in the news today, with everyone concerned about Syrian refugees.

My first thought was to put together a Thanksgiving show of music from films that highlight generosity and the gradual acceptance of strangers from different backgrounds. However, it would have required some finesse so as not to come across as preachy, and I was too overburdened this week to guarantee that lightness of touch. So I opted for an easier topic and one less likely to stir controversy.

Therefore, we have four films set in New England. I open with the aforementioned short, with music by Aaron Copland, which is far less well-known than his other New England film, “Our Town.” The score is pure Americana, with some of the material later finding its way into the composer’s Clarinet Concerto and “Down a Country Lane.”

Then we take a decidedly un-Thanksgiving turn (unless we count Jabez Stone’s eventual thanks for salvation), with “The Devil and Daniel Webster” (1941). An expanded treatment of Stephen Vincent Benet’s popular short story, it starred Edward Arnold as Webster, and Walter Huston in one of his most memorable roles as the diabolical Mr. Scratch. The film also features Bernard Herrmann’s second film score, written hot on the heels of “Citizen Kane.” It would earn the composer his only Academy Award.

“The Devil and Daniel Webster” was originally issued as “All That Money Can Buy,” in an attempt to avoid confusion with the contemporaneous “The Devil and Miss Jones.” I remember being disappointed with the adaptation the first time I saw it, having been such a fan of the original short story. Now I recognize its brilliance. Huston’s scenery-chewing (and pie-eating) performance aside, the director, William Dieterle, applies some nice Expressionistic touches. It’s an ingenious blend of eerie diabolism and homespun Americana.

I can’t find anything particularly “Thanksgiving” about “Peyton Place” (1957), about a fictional New England town whose residents have more than their share of skeletons in the closet. But Franz Waxman’s music sure is nice.

Finally, we’ll hear some of Miklós Rózsa’s score for “Plymouth Adventure” (1952). Spencer Tracy plays the cynical captain of The Mayflower. Gene Tierney is his forbidden love. Van Johnson appears as John Alden, and Lloyd Bridges is the first mate.

Rózsa, already at this stage of his career, was MGM’s go-to composer for historical drama. Seven years later, he would take home his third Academy Award for his classic score to “Ben-Hur.”

Curiously, this film about the Pilgrims sidesteps the actual first Thanksgiving. It does, however, include among its characters William Bradford, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.

I hope you’ll join me for music from movies set in New England this week, on “Picture Perfect,” tonight at 6 ET, with a repeat tomorrow morning at 6; or that you’ll enjoy it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

NOTE: Turner Classic Movies: TCM will air “Plymouth Adventure” this Sunday at 6 p.m. ET

You can watch “The Cummington Story” here:

November 20, 2015
Thanksgiving Film Music Family Community Country

This week on “Picture Perfect,” with Thanksgiving fast approaching, we’ll have music from films about family, community and country.

Aaron Copland’s music for “The Cummington Story” (1945) sets the tone. The short semi-documentary, made for the Office of War Information, relates the gradual acceptance of European war refugees into a cautious but fundamentally decent New England community. The score is pure Americana, with some of the material later finding its way into Copland’s Clarinet Concerto and “Down a Country Lane.”

Thank you, amazing YouTube, for making the complete film available online!

James Horner’s music for “Field of Dreams” (1989) is cut from the same cloth, or at any rate it is a square in the same folksy counterpane. Horner clearly wrote the music under the influence of Copland’s “Our Town.” The film itself is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy, in which a man finds redemption and a new understanding of his father in the enchanted cornfields of America’s heartland.

“The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) tells the tale of the three war veterans struggling to readjust to civilian life. It isn’t easy, but with the support of family and friends, there’s plenty of hope for the future. Hugo Friedhofer wrote the Academy Award-winning score. The orchestrations were by Copland protégé (and composer of “The Big Country”) Jerome Moross.

Finally, Daniel Day-Lewis elevated Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012) to greatness with one of the most amazing performances ever captured on film. Day-Lewis’ gentle but shrewd Man of Destiny would go to any lengths to hold the country together. John Williams tapped into America’s proud musical heritage, clearly influenced by Copland and Ives, to create a score of stirring nobility.

I hope you’ll join me for these musical reflections of family, community and country this week, on “Picture Perfect.” You can listen to it this Friday evening at 6, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6, or you can catch it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

November 20, 2014

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