Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WPRB

Staycation Summer Road Trip on WPRB

Why travel abroad this summer, when there’s plenty to see right here?

This Thursday morning on WPRB, we’ll load up the RV and accompany composers on a trip around the country. We’ll have musical evocations of our states, cities and natural wonders. Along the way, we’ll travel Route 66 with Michael Daugherty, view some road movies with John Adams, and stop off to fill the tank with Virgil Thomson. We’ll even get lost in Philadelphia with Paul Lansky – during the Democratic National Convention, no less!

“The man who goes alone can start today,” wrote Henry David Thoreau, “but he who travels with another must wait until the other is ready.” I’m perfectly happy to wait until tomorrow.

Join me from 6 to 11 a.m. EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll do our best not to sing along with the radio, on Classic Ross Amico.

July 27, 2016
French Revolutions in Music

How many revolutions has France had, anyway? 1789, of course; then 1830; the “Les Miserables” revolution of 1832; another big one in 1848; a failed one in 1871… You might say, all throughout the 19th century, the French were a rather revolting people.

This morning on WPRB, we’ll hear musical responses to revolutionary France, including many by native composers, including Darius Milhaud’s martial Symphony No. 4, written to mark the centenary of the February Revolution of 1848.

We’ll also have Hector Berlioz’s “Symphonie funèbre et triomphale,” composed to honor those who died during the July Revolution of 1830. Of course, that was the heyday of the gunslinger-pianist, and Paris was teeming with foreign keyboard artists like Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt. The conflict of 1830 inspired Liszt to write a symphonic poem, “Héroïde funèbre.”

But Bastille Day is really all about 1789, so we’ll also include music by Luigi Cherubini and Étienne Nicolas Méhul, both important figures during what is commonly known as THE French Revolution.

Otherwise, there will be abundant apolitical celebrations of France in general and Paris in particular, including the surrealist ballet “Les mariés de la tour Eiffel” (“The Wedding Party on the Eiffel Tower”), a collaborative work by members of Les Six, and plenty of musical joie de vivre courtesy of composers like Jacques Ibert and Jean Françaix.

We’ll slather everything with French dressing this morning, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Je suis le grand fromage, on Classic Ross Amico.

July 14, 2016
Bastille Day on WPRB Radio!

Vive la France! Tomorrow morning on WPRB, we celebrate Bastille Day.

Among other musical confections, we’ll enjoy the collaborative ballet, “Les mariés de la tour Eiffel” (“The Wedding Party on the Eiffel Tower”), by members of Les Six, a surreal romp set on the Parisian landmark on July 14.

We’ll also hear selections from the album “Tower Music,” a recent release on the Innova Recordings label, in which mad visionary Joseph Bertolozzi plays the actual Tour Eiffel like a giant percussion instrument.

There will also be music by French Revolution Era composer Étienne Nicolas Méhul, Napoleon’s cellist, Jean-Louis Duport, and Hector Berlioz’s setting of “La Marseillaise.”

I’ll be chain-smoking baguettes, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” is our motto, on Classic Ross Amico.

July 13, 2016
Grimm & Mahler A Musical Fairy Tale

It will be a very Grimm morning this morning, to complement our grim weather. Join me as I celebrate the birthday of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) with one of his early works, and one not that often heard: “Das klagende Lied” (“Song of Lamentation”). “Das klagende Lied,” written while the composer was yet a student at the Vienna Conservatory, is based in part on the Grimm fairy tale “The Singing Bone.”

In addition, there will be other Grimm-inspired music by the likes of Philip Glass, Engelbert Humperdinck, William Hurlstone, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Robert Moran, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Bernard Rogers, Robert Schumann, and Elinor Remick Warren.

As I remarked to the witch in the candy cottage, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Join me for a morning as grim as the weather, with tales from the Brothers Grimm, from 6 to 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. I’ll be introducing the music in an enchanted sleep, on Classic Ross Amico.

July 7, 2016
Mahler’s Grim Birthday Alpine Break on WPRB

It’s supposed to be 90 degrees in the Philadelphia-Princeton area for forever at this point, so it’s best to imagine Gustav Mahler taking a break from his work and hiking about his summer home in the Alps.

Right now on WPRB, we’re listening to an early work of Mahler to celebrate his birthday – the cantata “Das klagende Lied,” inspired by the Grimms’ fairy tale, “The Singing Bone.” But for Mahler, apparently, the original Grimm tale wasn’t quite grim enough. So he made a few changes to ensure things end miserably for everyone!

Two brothers seek the hand of a queen. The younger brother finds the red flower that will win her favor. When the elder brother finds out, he kills the younger, steals the flower, and claims the queen as his bride. A wandering minstrel finds one of the younger brother’s bones and makes a flute from it. When the flute is played, it tells the story of the murder. The minstrel plays the flute at the wedding before the horrified guests, and the castle falls to ground, KILLING EVERYONE.

This is all actually quite tame when compared to the events of “The Juniper Tree,” which include child abuse, a beheading, cannibalism and death by millstone. I’m hoping to get to a one-act opera based on the tale, by Philip Glass and Robert Moran, before the shift is out.

All in all, we’ll be having a Grimm morning, until 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

NOTE: I just heard from three of you in the last few minutes who wrote to let me know that the streaming is down. The tech folk have been notified, so hopefully we’ll be back up soon. Thanks for letting me know!

July 7, 2016

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS