Classic Ross Amico

Tag: The Lost Chord

WWFM Shows Return Thanks to Rachel Katz

Since the COVID tsunami broke across central New Jersey, I have not been able to get in to the station to upload webcasts from my two specialty shows, “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord.” So for months, the most recent shows archived on the WWFM website dated from around St. Patrick’s Day – or roughly the time I began cultivating my coronabeard.

That now has been remedied, to some extent, thanks to production manager Rachel Katz, who has been working from home, but, every once in a while, has had to don the hazmat suit in order to enter the college and ensure everything continues to fire as it should. Searching for and uploading audio from my overcrowded folder takes time, as does making sure that all the settings are correct, so that the material can be accessed from the WWFM website.

Rachel has also been instrumental in ensuring that encore broadcasts of “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” have continued at all, as I have been sending her lists of shows in five-week increments, and again, it is she who has been hunting them down and loading them into the system.

Most of June (excluding this past weekend) is now available on the station’s webcast page, as is all of May. As far as I can tell, there are only a few weeks – the last two of March, and a couple in April – that are still missing.

To listen to the shows, follow the links below, select the one you’d like to hear, and click on the “listen” button.

PICTURE PERFECT

https://www.wwfm.org/programs/picture-perfect-ross-amico

THE LOST CHORD

https://www.wwfm.org/programs/lost-chord-ross-amico

Again, many thanks to Rachel!

If you enjoy “Picture Perfect” or “The Lost Chord” or anything else you hear on The Classical Network, please remember that we are coming up on the end of our fiscal year. If what we do enriches the quality of your days, please consider renewing your membership, becoming a new member, or making an additional gift before June 30.

We understand that times are tough, but any little bit helps. Our survival, and to what degree we are able to rebuild, depends to large extent on the dedication and generosity of our listener-members.

https://wwwfm.secureallegiance.com/wwfm/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=DEFAULT&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=vOU2bz5JCWmgCDbf53nm9ezWDeZ%2BeA1M&fbclid=IwAR2jrLX9uQdBGePKuycNVLIxABZRKX5orE0_PzHa9sIfgPUusaO2zyyI_gM

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support of WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org!

June 22, 2020
Father’s Day Sports Music on The Lost Chord

Happy Father’s Day! This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we pay tribute to Dad, with an hour of music about sports.

I realize it’s a possibility that not all dads necessarily like sports. However, it’s been my experience that Sunday afternoons and Monday nights have always been off-limits, as far as the family television is concerned. For me personally, that meant that after Abbott and Costello or the Bowery Boys, it was football, golf, or “Wide World of Sports,” and that I never saw “MAS*H” during its first run.

Be that as it may, it’s Dad’s day, so we’re going to give him what he wants – an hour of rough-and-tumble, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.

We’ll hear “Rugby” by Arthur Honegger, “Half-Time” by Bohuslav Martinu,” “The Yale-Princeton Football Game” by Charles Ives, and highlights from the baseball opera “The Mighty Casey” by William Schuman.

Combine with a La-Z-Boy and a cold beer, and it’s a recipe for dad contentment. I hope you’ll join me for “Good Sports,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 21, 2020
Persian Polyphony on The Lost Chord

You might say I’m on a Seemorgh diet. I see ‘Morgh, and I play it!

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” I hope you’ll join me for an hour of Persian polyphonic music – music written by Persian (or Iranian) composers, based on Persian folk and classical melodies, but written specifically for western instruments.

We’ll hear two works by Behzad Ranjbaran, recorded in 1994 for the Delos label. I had heard Ranjbaran’s lyrical Piano Concerto at a concert of the Philadelphia Orchestra some time ago, but it did not prepare me for the beauty and opulence of his “Persian Trilogy.”

Ranjbaran, born in Tehran in 1955, is currently on the faculty of the Juilliard School. Many of his works are influenced by Persian culture and literature. “The Persian Trilogy” was inspired by the “Shahnameh,” the national epic of 11th century poet Ferdowski.

We’ll hear two of the three pieces, including “Seven Passages,” about the hero Rostam, who undergoes seven trials along the path to rescue the Persian king Kavus; and “Seemorgh,” about the mythical bird that raises the abandoned hero Zaal, who is able to summon her in times of crisis.

Ranjbaran proves himself a master orchestrator. If you enjoy the music of Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy, Paul Dukas, or Ottorino Respighi, I think you’ll really enjoy his “Persian Trilogy.”

We’ll also hear music by Reza Vali, born in Ghazvin in 1952. Vali, currently on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University, has been called the “Iranian Béla Bartók” for his ability to successfully meld native folk elements with established western classical forms. His “Folk Song (Set No. 9)” is composed for the combination of flute and cello. The flutist switches between various instruments of the flute family, and the cellist plays tuned crystal glass and tom-toms. As you’ll hear, the musicians are also required at various points to sing and whistle.

I hope you’ll join me for “Roses of Persia,” a bouquet of Persian polyphonic music, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Networkand wwfm.org.

June 7, 2020
Bortkiewicz Ukrainian Composer Triumph

Some guys just can’t seem to catch a break.

Sergei Bortkiewicz, born in Ukraine, lived through two world wars and the Russian Revolution. He endured both poverty and personal tragedy. However, through it all, he managed to create music of lasting beauty.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” learn more about his turbulent life and transporting music, including the Quatre morceaux, Op. 65, the Symphony No. 2 in E flat major, and the Elegie, Op. 46.

I hope you’ll join me for “Big Talent from Little Russia,” tonight at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 31, 2020
Swedish Spring Music This Sunday

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we focus on “The Virgin Spring.” No, not the Bergman film, in which Max von Sydow exacts terrible vengeance on those who… well, nevermind. See the movie.

Anyway, the show’s not about that. The spring in the film is a body of water, a symbol of rebirth and renewal. But we’re using “spring” in the purely seasonal sense, as we enjoy an hour of vernal expressions by Swedish composers.

We’ll hear Gunnar de Frumerie’s “Pastoral Suite” and two works by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: Book III from “Flowers of Frösö” and the “Earina Suite.” “Earina,” derived from the Greek “earinos,” meaning “spring-like,” according to the composer, conjures a world of “cult deeds and magic rites… belonging to some undefined natural religion.”

Nobody does spring quite like the Swedes. Enjoy an hour of well-seasoned music, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 10, 2020

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS