Classic Ross Amico

Tag: William Alwyn

Talk Like a Pirate Day with Classical Music!

Ahoy, me hearties! An’ ARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

It be the 19th o’ September – International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Join me this afternoon, won’t ye, for a dead man’s chest full o’ classical music bullion.

There be a symphony by an English composer o’ the name o’ George Lloyd. Also a concerto fer violin an’ orchester by th’ Hungarian fiddler Jenő Hubay. Miecszylaw Weinberg ain’t a name that’s offen heard o’ th’ high seas, but we be hearin’ ‘im t’day. Furthermore, I’ve a mind t’ open up with a broadside o’ William Alwyn’s music fer “The Crimson Pirate.”

ARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Lissen ye from 4 t’ 7 o’ the clock (EDT), t’ WWFM – The Classical Network an’ wwfm.org, ‘r it’s the Black Spot fer ye!

If ‘tis proof ye be needin’, look ye ‘ere:

http://time.com/4497168/international-talk-like-pirate-day/

September 19, 2016
English Music Marathon on WPRB Today

I’d heed John Bull if I were you. Yet to come this morning: the Symphony No. 3 by Edmund Rubbra, the Violin Sonata No. 4 by Cyril Scott, the ballet “The Angels” by Richard Arnell, the Symphony No. 4 by William Alwyn, and more. It’s a full morning of English music until 11 ET on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

January 28, 2016
Alwyn Michelle Kwan’s Olympic Composer

What composer helped spur Michelle Kwan to Olympic excellence? Kwan skated to William Alwyn’s harp concerto, “Lyra Angelica,” during her legendary free skate at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Polyglot, poet, artist and especially musician, Alwyn played flute for a time with the London Symphony Orchestra. He taught composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1926 to 1955. He was a composer of symphonies, operas, concertos, string quartets and film scores.

My personal favorite of the symphonies is No. 4. Dig that cascading scherzo of a second movement! Then feel your heart tug at the third.

His Symphony No. 3 may be the most structurally amazing, with the first movement generated from an 8-note theme, the second from a 4-note fragment, and the last a combination of the two. By golly, that’s all twelve notes of the chromatic scale – twelve-tone music! Then why is it so damned beautiful?

Of course, there is much to be said for the simple pleasures of his music for “The Crimson Pirate.”

Another fun fact: Alwyn was a cousin of Gary Cooper!

Happy birthday, William Alwyn (1905-1985)!

November 7, 2015
English Documentary Scores by Great Composers

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll have an hour of English documentary scores.

In England, unlike in the United States, there is no delineation between “film composer” and “concert composer.” What is often regarded here as “hack work,” there is seen as just another aspect of what it means to be a working artist. There is no disgrace in a composer earning a living, and some of the nation’s greatest musicians – including those in the employ of the Royal Family – have contributed finely-crafted works to its body of cinema.

We’ll hear music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, from “The People’s Land,” Benjamin Britten, from “The King’s Stamp,” William Alwyn, from “The Green Girdle,” and Sir Arthur Bliss, from “The Royal Palaces of Britain.” All four films are patriotic utterances on distinctly English themes.

You may not have seen any of the movies, but the music is beautiful. I hope you’ll join me for selections from English documentaries, this Friday evening at 6 ET, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later, at your convenience, as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.

The complete documentary short, “The Green Girdle,” is posted on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWQDeD4J0As

As is “The King’s Stamp”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gSsJHlLFg4

Thank you, Internet!

PHOTO: It’s not about what you think

December 4, 2014

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