Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WPRB

Earth Day Music on WPRB

This Sunday morning on WPRB, I’ll be playing a lot of garbage. So what else is new? No, really. One of my featured works will be the “Garbage Concerto,” by Canadian composer Jan Järvlepp. The piece incorporates percussion instruments fashioned out of recyclable material. I thought it only appropriate, since tomorrow is Earth Day.

We’ll also hear two sizeable choral works in the form of the “Missa Gaia: Mass for the Earth,” by Libby Larsen, and “Hymn to the Earth,” by Edward Joseph Collins, in 1929 acting well ahead of the modern environmentalism curve.

Take a walk in the forest with a symphonic poem by Mikalojus Čiurlionis. View the earth from the International Space Station with a cello concerto by Osvaldo Golijov. Toot on a conch shell with Peter Sculthorpe.

Why on Earth would you want to miss it?

Every dog may have its day, but there’s only one Earth. Celebrate Earth Day, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. I’ll be nothing if not earthy, on Classic Ross Amico.

April 21, 2018
Tax Time Tunes on WPRB

April 15th. Tax Time! Or just about.

Since the traditional deadline for filing income tax in the United States falls on a Sunday this year, it’s possible to live in denial for another 48 hours. Monday is Emancipation Day in Washington, DC, so nothing is due until Tuesday. Why let it ruin your weekend?

This Sunday morning on WPRB, we’ll have three hours of music related to filing your taxes. We’ll break the bank with works about wealth and penury, found and lost money, precious metals, careless spending, treasures sought, currency and coins, and good old fashioned tax protest.

If you’ve already completed your taxes, kick back and dream of what you’ll do with your newly acquired wealth, in the form of a fat tax return; or, in the unfortunate event that you’ll be paying through the nose, contemplate what great height you’ll likely be leaping from. If you haven’t paid your taxes, this morning would be as good a time as any to plug in the adding machine and think about meeting your friends for coffee and a movie.

Brother, can you spare a dime, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com? You don’t have to worry about having money in the bank when the music is priceless, on Classic Ross Amico.

April 15, 2018
Tax Day Delay Wealth & Penury on WPRB

April 15th falls on a Sunday this year – which means we can procrastinate on filing income tax for an additional 48 hours! (Monday is Emancipation Day in Washington, DC, so nothing is due until Tuesday.)

Even so, we’ll try to get a leg up, this Sunday morning on WPRB, as we’ll be scrolling paper into the adding machine and dreaming of a fat return to the accompaniment of music about wealth and penury, found and lost money, precious metals, careless spending, treasures sought, currency and coins, and good old fashioned tax protest.

Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry in protest of exorbitant taxation. On the other side of the coin, when told that the people had no bread, Marie-Antoinette is alleged to have uttered, “Let them eat cake!” Both will be represented musically, with works by Vítězslav Novák and Franz Joseph Haydn.

We’ll seek treasure with Franz Schreker. We’ll look with sardonic befuddlement upon “The Age of Gold” with Dmitri Shostakovich. Antonio Salieri will show us what it is like to be rich for a day. Beethoven will rage over a lost penny. Franz Lehár will shower us with gold and silver. We’ll gaze with envy upon Kurt Atterberg’s “Dollar” Symphony.

Of course, there will be music from “The Threepenny Opera,” by Kurt Weill. We’ll also hear Weill sing his own song, “Very, Very, Very,” from “One Touch of Venus,” which begins, “One way to be very wealthy is to be very, very, very rich…” Sound advice, and very, very, very true.

We’ll be dumping tea into the harbor and preparing the tar and feathers, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. There will be no tax on your patience, when listening to Classic Ross Amico.

April 14, 2018
Japanese Music & Cherry Blossoms on WPRB

The flowers that bloom in spring, tra la, breathe promise of merry sunshine. Words of hope from the pen of W.S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame.

We’ll begin this Sunday morning on WPRB with the overture to “The Mikado.” This will kick off three hours of music inspired by Japan, alongside original works by Japanese composers, a musical tie-in, of sorts, to the National Cherry Blossom Festival, now flowering in Washington, DC.

The “highlight” of the morning will be Sidney Jones’ musical comedy, “The Geisha,” which opened in London’s West End in 1896. The work became an international sensation. “The Geisha” capitalizes on the orientalism craze that gripped Europe and the United States at the end of the end of the 19th century. Predating both Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” and the story that inspired it by several years, the plot similarly is set in motion by a questionable relationship between a Western Navy man and a Japanese woman. The similarities end there, however, as matters rapidly plummet into farce, underscored by melodies and patter songs that owe more to Gilbert and Sullivan than Italian verismo. The work contains one memorable melody after another, and a happy ending is guaranteed.

Though the piece may be hampered by its twee exoticism and unfortunate slang that mark it very much as a product of its time, heard from an historically-informed perspective, “The Giesha” still has much to offer the modern listener.

If you prefer your Japanese culture undistilled, tune in early for music by Japanese composers Komei Abe, Kiyoshige Koyama, Yoquijiro Yocoh, and Akira Ifukube (of “Godzilla” fame). We’ll also hear Gustav Holst’s rarely-heard “Japanese Suite” and, unavoidably, a selection or two from “The Mikado.” Be forewarned, if you switch off before the end, you will miss the inimitable Claudia Novikova’s infectious recording of “The Laughing Song,” an insert aria composed for “The Geisha,” which I guarantee will make your day.

The sun rises in the East, this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll substitute tea for coffee, on Classic Ross Amico.

April 8, 2018
Cherry Blossom Music on WPRB This Sunday

The cherry blossoms are in bloom in Washington, D.C. This Sunday morning on WPRB, to coincide with the peak of this year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, we’ll hear music inspired by Japan, alongside original works by Japanese composers.

The “highlight” of the morning will be Sidney Jones’ seminal musical comedy, “The Geisha,” which opened in London’s West End in 1896. While this might seem a peculiar choice – some of the attitudes and vocabulary definitely come across as a mite insensitive in our more enlightened age (though none of it is mean-spirited, I wouldn’t expect a staged revival anytime soon) – Jones’ entertainment is a fascinating historical document not without merit. Over a century later, we might wonder what all the fuss was about, but “The Geisha” was a huge international hit. It ran for over seven months on Broadway. It stands as a missing link between the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan (the influence of “The Mikado” looms large) and the emergence of modern musical theater. Interestingly, from our perspective in the 21st century, the work seems much closer to the classical music tradition, employing a standard orchestra in the pit and no hint of the popular influences to come.

Still, if it all sounds a bit much for the faint of heart, consider tuning in early to find some balance with works by Japanese composers Komei Abe, Kiyoshige Koyama, Yoquijiro Yocoh, and Akira Ifukube (of “Godzilla” fame). We’ll also hear Gustav Holst’s “Japanese Suite” and, unavoidably, a selection or two from “The Mikado.” Be forewarned, if you switch off before the end, you will miss the inimitable Claudia Novikova’s infectious recording of “The Laughing Song,” an insert aria composed for “The Geisha,” which I guarantee will make your day.

It’s music in honor of “the flowers that bloom in spring, tra la” – Japanese cherry blossoms, to be specific – this Sunday morning from 7 to 10 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Spring is in the air, or on the air, with Classic Ross Amico.

April 7, 2018

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