Classic Ross Amico

Tag: US Presidents

Presidents Day Music Potomac WWFM

I hope you’ll join me in celebrating Presidents Day on this lovely Tuesday afternoon. I’ll been hurling CDs across the Potomac, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

February 17, 2020
Presidents Day Classical Music Special

Hail to the Chiefs!

You’d better sail through those white sales. You’ll want to be near an electronic device at 4:00 today for my annual State of the Union on The Classical Network. I’ll be revving up the musical automatons at the Hall of Presidents for Presidents Day.

We’ll hear works inspired by Thomas Jefferson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and of course George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Of course, I already played an hour’s worth of music in celebration of Lincoln for his birthday (February 12), but our 16th president inspired more note-spinning than can be crammed into a stovepipe hat.

If you’re looking to buy a roll of quarters, you may be out of luck, the banks are closed. But Washington will be well represented, in Virgil Thomson’s naïf ballet “Parson Weems and the Cherry Tree” (a Bicentennial commission), George Antheil’s rousing concert overture, “McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington at Trenton),” and John Lampkin’s “George Washington Slept Here.”

Composer Victoria Bond wrote four portraits of presidential character, for narrator and instrumental soloist. These were released on her album, “Soul of a Nation,” on the Albany Records label. The title track incorporates a violin for Thomas Jefferson, “The Indispensable Man” a clarinet for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The Crowded Hours” a trumpet for Theodore Roosevelt, and “Pater Patriae” a flute for George Washington. I’ll select one of these for airplay this afternoon.

Peter Lieberson’s “Remembering JFK” was composed for the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy inauguration. Its moving narration, compiled from the president’s own words, will be delivered by Richard Dreyfuss. Where have all the statesmen gone?

And, as an added curiosity, Chester A. Arthur disliked “Hail to the Chief” so intensely that he asked John Philip Sousa to write a replacement anthem. We’ll find time for that, too.

There may be no mail today, but we’ll sure sift through plenty of junk. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating Presidents Day, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

February 17, 2020
Presidential Music for Presidents Day

Hail to the Chiefs!

I hope you’ll join me today on The Classical Network for my annual trip to the Hall of Presidents. We’ll hear works inspired by Thomas Jefferson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and of course Washington and Lincoln.

This year, there will be a few new additions to the assembly of animatronic executives.

Abraham Lincoln inspired more music than can be crammed down a stovepipe hat. Though I already devoted an afternoon to our 16th president on his actual birthday (February 12), I’ve since unearthed a major work I haven’t played before: “Letters from Lincoln,” by Michael Daugherty. As the title suggests, Daugherty builds his character portrait of the Illinois Rail-Splitter using the president’s own words. We’ll hear it sung by Thomas Hampson.

Composer Victoria Bond has written four “portraits of presidential character.” “Soul of a Nation” was released last year on an Albany Records compact disc. Each of the orchestral pieces that make up the album includes parts for narrator and instrumental soloist. The title track incorporates a violin for Thomas Jefferson, “The Indispensible Man” a clarinet for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The Crowded Hours” a trumpet for Theodore Roosevelt, and “Pater Patriae” a flute for George Washington. I’ll select one of these for airplay this afternoon.

Once again, we’ll celebrate Washington (born February 22) with Virgil Thomson’s naïf ballet “Parson Weems and the Cherry Tree,” a Bicentennial commission, George Antheil’s rousing concert overture, “McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington at Trenton),” and John Lampkin’s “George Washington Slept Here.”

To commemorate an American president closer to our own time, Peter Lieberson composed his “Remembering JFK” for the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy inauguration. The moving narration, compiled from the president’s own words will be delivered by Richard Dreyfuss. Where have all the statesmen gone?

And to get us ready for The Princeton Festival’s production of John Adams’ “Nixon in China” in June, we’ll listen to “The Chairman Dances.”

As an added curiosity, Chester A. Arthur disliked “Hail to the Chief” so intensely that he asked John Philip Sousa to write a replacement anthem. We’ll find time for that too.

There won’t be any junk mail for you to sift through, and you can’t go to the bank. You might as well get those white sales out of the way early. You’ll want to be back in time to settle in for music inspired by the presidents for #PresidentsDay, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

February 18, 2019
Presidents Day Classical Music Broadcast

It’s Presidents’ Day. Hopefully you hit the white sales early, so that you can sit back and enjoy the music. We’ll have works inspired by Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Chester A. Arthur, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and of course Washington and Lincoln. I’ll be practicing arithmetic on the back of a coal shovel and hurling silver dollars across the Potomac, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org

February 19, 2018
Presidential Music Lincoln Washington & More

I was thinking of ol’ Abe Lincoln, who was known to walk 20 miles through all weather to borrow and return books, as I trudged from the parking lot this morning with temperatures in the mid-teens. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the layout of the Princeton University campus, the parking lot is not close. But Abe would have done it, uphill through a raging snow storm, in order to enrich your day with music about the presidents.

Today is Lincoln’s birthday (born 1809). We’ll honor our 16th president, with Lincoln-inspired music by George Frederick McKay, David Diamond, Robert Russell Bennett, Roy Harris and John Williams, among others. Since Monday is a federal holiday established to honor the birth of George Washington (in 1732), we’ll have works inspired by him, as well, composed by Virgil Thomson, Seymour Bernstein and John Lampkin, again among others.

In addition, we’ll have music written for or inspired by some of our other presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Chester A. Arthur. As time allows, we may also hear some 19th century campaign songs.

It will be like hurling silver dollar after silver dollar across the Potomac this morning, from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. I cannot tell a lie, on Classic Ross Amico.

#AbrahamLincoln

February 12, 2016

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