Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WPRB

Age of Exploration Music Adventure on WPRB

No smartphones. No Starbuck’s. No 7-Elevens.

In their place, strange microbes, uncharted shoals, unknown perils.

Once they left, they were really gone, and they didn’t know when – or if – they were coming back. Now that’s adventure!

Regardless of how you may personally feel about some of the behavior of the great European explorers, you have to admit, they had cojones.

This Thursday morning on WPRB, in advance of Columbus Day, the focus will be on the Age of Exploration, the push, beginning in the late 15th century, toward discovery – and yes, in many cases, conquest and colonization – of new lands.

We’ll hear music inspired by Henry Hudson, Sir Walter Raleigh, Juan Ponce de Leon, Francisco Pizarro, and of course Christopher Columbus. We’ll even include a few works in honor of Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson, who arrived in North America 500 years before Columbus’ first voyage.

As a special treat, Sir Edmund Hillary will narrate “Landfall in Unknown Seas,” composed by Douglas Lilburn to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the arrival of Abel Tasman in New Zealand. From the early years of the 20th century, we’ll travel to the polar regions with Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. And to bring us up to the present, we’ll listen to Joaquin Rodrigo’s salute to NASA and its commitment to the final frontier, “In Search of the Beyond.”

For centuries, the great explorers were celebrated as heroes. In more recent decades, the best we can hope for is a more nuanced view. But consider this: without the courage of these bold rascals, where would most of us be? On an overcrowded continent without coffee or potatoes. That sounds like a very cranky existence indeed.

I hope you’ll be able to rise above any personal revulsion to join me for these armchair explorations, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll provide the suntan lotion and mosquito repellant, on Classic Ross Amico.

October 5, 2017
Exploration Anthems WPRB’s Columbus Day Soundtrack

Yeah, yeah, I know, explorers are all bad people, and they should be reviled.

This week on WPRB, as the rest of the world gets ready to hurl brickbats at Columbus, we’ll take some time to reflect on the theme of exploration. We’ll hear music inspired by a number of the great European explorers, many of whom have recently fallen into disfavor.

There will be plenty of music for Columbus, naturally, in advance of the three-day weekend. We’ll also have works related to Henry Hudson, Sir Walter Raleigh and Francisco Pizarro, with a nod or two to Leif Erikson, who arrived in North American nearly 500 years before Columbus embarked, and Alfred Newman’s decidedly un-PC “Conquest,” in glorification of the Conquistadors.

As a special treat, Sir Edmund Hillary will narrate “Landfall in Unknown Seas,” composed by Douglas Lilburn to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the arrival of Abel Tasman in New Zealand.

And to bring us even more up to date, we’ll listen to Joaquin Rodrigo’s salute to NASA and its commitment to the final frontier, “In Search of the Beyond.”

I don’t know, maybe we should all still be living in the Old Country, shuddering against the threat of sea serpents or dropping off the edge of a flat earth. But then where would be our diversity, heightened sensitivity, and righteous indignation?

We sail the ocean blue, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. If the scurvy doesn’t get you, the sea serpents will, on Classic Ross Amico.

October 4, 2017
Yom Kippur Music on WPRB

Yom Kippur begins on Friday evening. The holiest day of the Jewish calendar caps ten Days of Awe and Repentance, which began with the Jewish New Year on Rosh Hashanah. This Thursday morning on WPRB, we’ll mark the Jewish High Holy Days with a full playlist of music on Jewish themes.

We’ll begin with some evocations of the shofar, in Aaron Minsky’s “Judaic Concert Suite” and David Stock’s “Tekiah,” then progress through several arrangements of the Yom Kippur prayer Kol Nidre — by Jacob Weinberg, Arnold Schoenberg, Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek (of “Donna Diana Overture” fame), and of course Max Bruch — and arrive finally at Thomas Beveridge’s “Yizkor Requiem,” which beautifully consolidates the Jewish and Catholic liturgies for the dead. Along the way, there will be a symphony, some dances, and even a collection of tone portraits of the stained glass windows of Abell Syagogue at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, which depict the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

If you’re looking for music for the High Holidays, I’m your goy, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Wishing you a sweet and happy 5778, on Classic Ross Amico.

September 28, 2017
Yom Kippur Music This Week on WPRB

Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, will commence this Friday at sundown. We anticipate the Day of Atonement and mark the ten Days of Awe and Repentance that began on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, with our annual show devoted to the Jewish High Holidays.

This Thursday morning on WPRB, we’ll hear plentiful music on Jewish themes, a piece or two evocative of the shofar, and of course multiple renderings of the prayer “Kol Nidre,” which is recited in the synagogue before the Yom Kippur evening service.

A highlight of the morning will be the “Yizkor Requiem” by Thomas Beveridge, who attempts to bridge Jewish and Christian traditions by paying tribute to the Hebraic roots of the Roman Catholic liturgy.

That’s music for the Days of Awe, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. The results will be predictably awesome, on Classic Ross Amico.

September 27, 2017
Rosh Hashanah Creation Stories on WPRB

In the beginning… we’ll hear “In the Beginning.”

On the recommendation of Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland set a passage from Genesis for a cappella chorus. A beautiful recording of the work, featuring the Choir of New College Oxford, will kick off five hours of musical creation stories for Rosh Hashanah on WPRB.

We’ll also hear the Adam and Eve duet from Franz Joseph Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation,” Jerome Moross’ Adam and Eve ballet “The Last Judgment,” and the “Creation Symphony” by Scottish composer William Wallace.

Not all of the selections will derive from the Judeo-Christian tradition. We’ll also hear Alberto Ginastera’s “Popol Vuh,” after the Mayan creation story; Darius Milhaud’s “La Création du monde,” inspired by African creation myths; “The Creation of the World” from the “Edda Oratorio” by Icelandic composer Jon Leifs; and Jean Sibelius’ “Luonnotar,” after a passage from the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.

We’ll round out the morning with a collaborative curio organized by composer and conductor Nathaniel Shilkret. Shilkret managed to cajole a number of the day’s greatest talents, then living in California, into collaborating on the “Genesis Suite,” a seven movement work for narrator, chorus and orchestra. The individual movements were composed by Arnold Schoenberg, Alexandre Tansman, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Ernst Toch, Igor Stravinsky, Milhaud and Shilkret himself.

That’s a full morning of creation stories for the Jewish New Year, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. When tempted with the Forbidden Fruit, we always ask, “Where’s the honey?,” on Classic Ross Amico.

September 21, 2017

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