Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WPRB

Princeton Reunions Weekend Music on WPRB

Tomorrow, get ready for a ton of princely music on WPRB, as we kick off Princeton University Reunions Weekend with a morning full of works composed or performed by Princeton faculty and alumni.

Needless to say, Princeton University has had an exceptionally rich musical history, between the mid-century experimentalists, the visiting professors and talented students from around the world, and at least two Pulitzer Prize winners (three if you count Milton Babbitt’s lifetime achievement award). The scene remains vibrant, and we’ll hear works representative of Princeton’s current faculty composers and performers. Music by Babbitt, Paul Lansky, Steven Mackey, and Roger Sessions will be presented cheek-by-jowl with that of Johann Sebastian Bach, Camille Saint-Saëns, Isaac Albéniz, and Benjamin Britten.

We’ll have the eye of The Tiger, or at least his or her ear, as we present music composed and performed by Princeton University faculty and alumni, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Orange is the color of our true love’s hair, on Classic Ross Amico.

You’ll find more about this year’s Reunions, including a complete schedule of events, when following this link:

http://alumni.princeton.edu/goinback/reunions/2017/

May 31, 2017
Ravel’s War A Memorial Day Tribute

With the outbreak of World War I, Maurice Ravel did his patriotic duty and enlisted in the French army. He was rejected from the infantry and the air force on account of his diminutive size and precarious health, but he learned to drive a truck and cared for the wounded at Verdun on the Western Front.

Ravel survived the war, but six of his friends were not so lucky. His “Le tombeau de Couperin” was ostensibly written as a tribute to the Baroque master, Francois Couperin, but each of the movements is dedicated to one of the fallen. Hear it this morning on WPRB103.3 FM and wprb.com, as part of a Memorial Day salute to the musical dead of all countries – the soldiers who laid down their lives in combat and the unfortunate civilians who were collateral casualties.

We’ll have pieces of war and prayers for peace until 11:00 EDT on Classic Ross Amico.

Read more about Ravel’s war experiences here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z2nk6sg

PHOTO: Ravel in uniform

May 25, 2017
Foulds’ World Requiem on WPRB

Coming up on WPRB in the 9:00 hour EDT: John Fould’s “A World Requiem.”

Scored for a mass of soloists, choristers and orchestral musicians to rival those of Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand,” the Requiem was conceived by Foulds as a memorial to the dead of all nations in the wake of the First World War. It was given its first performance at Royal Albert Hall on Armistice Night, November 11, 1923. It then lay in neglect for 80 years, until its resurrection by Leon Botstein, who conducted the work’s revival at Royal Albert Hall on November 11, 2007. We’ll hear his recording of the piece, which was issued two months later, on the Chandos label.

Listen now to WPRB103.3 FM or wprb.com. We remember the soldiers who laid down their lives in combat and the unfortunate civilians who were collateral casualties, in our salute to the musical dead of all countries, for Memorial Day, on Classic Ross Amico.

May 25, 2017
Circus Music Farewell to Ringling Bros

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages…

As Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus prepares to take its final bow, we salute the circus this Thursday morning on WPRB.

Join me to hear works such as Douglas Moore’s “The Pageant of P.T. Barnum,” Nino Rota’s “La Strada Ballet” and Rodion Shchedrin’s “Old Russian Circus Music.” I’ll also have snappy circus favorites like Julius Fucik’s “Entry of the Gladiators,” Juventino Rosas’ “Over the Waves” (a.k.a. the trapeze music), and Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance.” Perhaps there will even be a circus-oriented film score or two.

The traveling circus’ roots reach back deep into the 19th century. Ringling Brothers will stream its final performance, from Uniondale, NY, on its Facebook page, Sunday evening at 7:00 EDT.

For now, it will be a morning of pure nostalgia, a musical nod to a fading piece of Americana, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll have more circus music than clowns in a clown car, on Classic Ross Amico.

May 18, 2017
Ringling Bros Circus Radio Tribute

The Big Top will come down for the last time, metaphorically speaking, on May 21. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, an entertainment spectacle that has been part of the fabric of American life for 146 years, will tumble its last acrobat in Uniondale, NY, this weekend.

To mark the end of the era of the traveling circus, a phenomenon with roots reaching back deep into the 19th century, I will be dusting off and refurbishing one of my most popular shows this Thursday morning on WPRB.

Join me as we listen to such works as Douglas Moore’s “The Pageant of P.T. Barnum,” Walter Piston’s “The Incredible Flutist,” Nino Rota’s “La Strada Ballet,” Erik Satie’s “Parade,” and Rodion Shchedrin’s “Old Russian Circus Music.” I’ll also have snappy circus favorites like Julius Fucik’s “Entry of the Gladiators,” Juventino Rosas’ “Over the Waves” (a.k.a. the trapeze music), and Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance.” Perhaps there will even be a circus-oriented film score or two.

I can’t claim that it will be the Greatest Show on Earth. All I know is that it was a big hit when the circus train first rolled into town, back in August of 2015. I’ll be sprucing up the spandex and spangles, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll enjoy peanuts and cotton candy for breakfast, on Classic Ross Amico.

May 17, 2017

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