Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Vaughan Williams

Easter with Vaughan Williams and Metaphysical Poets

For me, it just isn’t Easter until I’ve heard Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Five Mystical Songs.” I defy anyone not to be uplifted by the opening song of the cycle, titled, well, “Easter.” The songs are settings of poems by George Herbert (1593-1633). This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear a classic recording, with bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk, as part of a program devoted to the 17th century metaphysical poets.

We’ll also hear William Alwyn’s “Lyra Angelica” of 1954, a harp concerto inspired by Giles Fletcher’s epic poem of 1610, “Christ’s Victorie and Triumph.” The composer regarded it as his most beautiful piece, and I am inclined to agree. The work likely received its widest exposure when Michelle Kwan elected to skate to it during the 1988 Olympics.

Finally, we’ll have a lute song setting by John Hilton of a poem by John Donne, “Wilt thou forgive that sinne,” from an album on the Harmonia Mundi label, titled “The Rags of Time.”

I hope you’ll join me for “Donne Deal” – an hour of metaphysical therapy – on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for those of you listening in the East. Here are the respective air-times for all three of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EASTERN)

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday on KWAX at 8:00 AM PACIFIC TIME (11:00 AM EASTERN)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EASTERN)

Stream all three, at the times indicated, by following the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

March 30, 2024
Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto Princeton

Anyone else plan to be in attendance when Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Tuba Concerto is performed in Princeton this weekend?

The work will appear on two concerts by the Princeton University Orchestra, on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Wesley Sanders (’26) will be the soloist. Also on the program will be Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto, with Kaivalya Kulkami (’26), and Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, with Daniel Lee (’27). Michael Pratt will conduct.

Looking ahead, there’s more English music in the offing for the spring, when Edward Elgar’s milestone oratorio “The Dream of Gerontius” will be performed on April 19 & 20.

All concerts will be held at Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the campus of Princeton University. I last heard the students play “Ein Heldenleben” there last season and was suitably impressed.

View the rehearsal clips on the Princeton University Orchestra Facebook page. Then, for tickets and information, visit music.princeton.edu/events/

PHOTO: Vaughan Williams, looking as miserable as you would imagine, being serenaded by the tuba. The composer wrote the first ever concerto for the instrument in 1954. A late and unusual work, the piece was dedicated to Philip Catelinet, principal tubist of the London Symphony Orchestra. “Glorious John” Barbirolli conducted the premiere. These are the forces heard on the work’s first recording. Give a listen, and I’ll see you at Richardson.

February 29, 2024
MLSO Shines with Gipps Bloch & Vaughan Williams

The Main Line Symphony Orchestra and conductor Don Liuzzi deserve breakfast in bed – an English breakfast, of course – for last night’s impressive rendering of Ruth Gipps’ Symphony No. 2, a work I never dreamed I would ever get to hear live. Their performance of Ernest Bloch’s “Schelomo,” with the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Yumi Kendall the cello soloist, was also very fine. Of course, I can turn down no opportunity to hear Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5. The program will be repeated at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, PA, this afternoon at 1:00. Thank you, MLSO!

For more information, visit http://www.mlso.org.

November 18, 2023
Main Line Symphony’s Rare Gems

I am looking forward to this ambitious program tomorrow night with the Main Line Symphony Orchestra. Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5, of course, is a longtime favorite, and somehow the stars have aligned so that I’ll have heard it three times within two months! Quite a harvest, considering Vaughan Williams’ music is so rarely done – beyond the “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” and “The Lark Ascending” – by American orchestras. In this instance, however, there is an added incentive in the inclusion, to open the concert, of Ruth Gipps’ Symphony No. 2.

Gipps, who lived from 1921 to 1999, was a Vaughan Williams pupil. At 26, she became the youngest English woman ever to receive a doctorate in music. Her mastery of both the oboe and piano suggested a promising future as soloist in virtuoso concert works. However, a shoulder injury, suffered in her early 30s, caused her to shift her focus primarily to composition. Along the way, she also founded two orchestras and directed a choral ensemble.

Despite early success (her tone poem, “Knight in Armour,” was performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 1942), she encountered resistance in a field dominated by men. No doubt this contributed to her steely resolve. She was tenacious. Some found her off-putting.

In all, she left five symphonies, a respectable number of concertos and concertante works, chamber and instrumental music, and choral pieces. Hopefully, this is a harbinger of more Gipps to come, as her works are being revived and recorded. In fact, I have two recordings of this particular symphony, but I never dreamed I would ever hear it in person!

Also on the program will be Ernest Bloch’s “Schelomo,” with Yumi Kendall, assistant principal cello of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the soloist. Don Liuzzi, Philly’s longtime principal timpanist, is the Main Line Symphony Orchestra’s music director.

The concert will be presented at Valley Forge Middle School in Wayne, PA, tomorrow night, Friday, at 8 p.m. The program will be repeated at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, PA, Saturday at 1 p.m.

For tickets and information, visit http://www.mlso.org.

November 16, 2023
Vaughan Williams & Elgar Lansdale Concert

Two of my favorite pieces of music by English composers (which is to say, two of my favorite pieces of music, period) will be performed tonight by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra: Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5 and Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations.” The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Calvary Baptist Church, minutes from downtown Lansdale, PA. Tickets at spsorchestra.org

November 4, 2023

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