Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WPRB

Cinco de Mayo Music & Local Arts on WPRB

Do you have that “cincing” feeling? Then it must be almost Cinco de Mayo!

May 5 is the anniversary of the day in 1862 when the Mexican army routed the superior forces of the French at the Battle of Puebla, quite possibly saving the United States’ bacon. You see, Napoleon III was not entirely unaware of a little something raging here in the U.S. called the Civil War. It was Napoleon’s idea that by moving in while the nation was compromised he might strike an alliance with the Confederacy and then sweep across the country. If not for the events of Cinco de Mayo, we could all be wearing berets right now and saying things like “mais oui.” Think about that the next time anyone talks about building a wall.

Join me in hoisting a glass of tequila to our brothers and sisters to the south, tomorrow morning on WPRB, as we listen to music mostly by Mexican composers and some by composers of the United States who wrote music on Mexican themes. Two in particular fell head-over-heels for the country: Aaron Copland and Conlon Nancarrow.

We can expect two visitors:

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider will drop by around 9 a.m. to talk about her new work, “Hiraeth,” which will be heard on a concert of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra at Richardson Auditorium on May 15 at 4 p.m. The PSO will host a performance of her song cycle “Penelope” at Princeton High School Performing Arts Center on May 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Snider will be joined by PSO assistant conductor John Devlin at Princeton Public Library tonight at 7 to discuss Penelope, a central figure from Homer’s “The Odyssey,” her influence on the creation of the piece, and preparations for the performance of Snider’s work. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

Then at 10 a.m., Lyn Ransom, artistic director or VOICES Chorale, will join us to tell us a little bit about the group’s season finale, which will include a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s heart-melting Requiem. Dr. Ransom is an advocate of performing the work in the French style. We’ll find out exactly what that means during the course of our conversation. The performance will take place at St. Paul Roman Catholic Church in Princeton on Friday at 8 p.m.

Since Mexico’s victory at the Battle of Puebla, acquisitive European forces have thought twice before trying to invade any country in the Americas, I can tell you. We’ll do our best not to spill our margaritas all over the equipment tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll be up to our wrists in guacamole and salsa, on Classic Ross Amico.

#CincoDeMayo

May 4, 2016
Shakespeare Music on WPRB
Fear no more the heat o’ the sun. At least for today in the Princeton area, with increasing clouds, afternoon showers anticipated, and highs in the upper 50s. The musical forecast, however, is for 100 percent Shakespeare.

We’ll round out our month-long, Thursday morning salute to the Bard with the last of four installments commemorating the quadricentennial of his death, on April 23, 1616. Is the date etched into your memory yet? Fret thee not: the next major anniversary will be the 500th anniversary of his birth, in 2064 – by which time, I fancy, many of us will be able to congratulate him in person.

In this first hour, we’ll have musical greatness thrust upon us, with selections from Ernest Chausson’s “The Tempest,” Gabriel Fauré’s incidental music for “Shylock” (after “The Merchant of Venice”) and Sir Alexander Mackenzie’s merry – and extended – overture for “Twelfth Night.”

Those now a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, from 6 to 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. The fewer the listeners, the greater the share of honour, on Classic Ross Amico.

Hark, hark! the lark at heaven’s gate sings,
And Phoebus ‘gins arise,
His steeds to water at those springs
On chaliced flowers that lies;
And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes:
With every thing that pretty is,
My lady sweet, arise:
Arise, arise.
- “Cymbeline,” Act II, scene 3
BTW: The birders among you might be interested to know that, according to the Scottish geologist Sir Archibald Geikie, in his 1916 book “The Birds of Shakespeare,” the Bard references all of the following in his plays: the Blackbird, Bunting, Buzzard, Chough, Cock, Cormorant, Crow, Cuckoo, Dive-dapper, Dove and Pigeon, Duck, Eagle, Falcon and Sparrowhawk, Finch, Goose, Hedge Sparrow, House Martin, Jackdaw, Jay, Kite, Lapwing, Lark, Loon, Magpie, Nightingale, Osprey, Ostrich, Owl, Parrot, Partridge, Peacock, Pelican, Pheasant, Quail, Raven, Robin, Snipe, Sparrow, Starling, Swallow, Swan, Thrush, Turkey, Vulture, Wagtail, Woodcock and the Wren.

Interestingly, the House Sparrow gets four mentions – in “Hamlet,” “As You Like It,” “The Tempest” and “Troilus and Cressida.”
April 28, 2016
Shakespeare on WPRB This Morning

Roughly two hours to go in our month-of-Thursdays salute to William Shakespeare.

Yet to come: Frank Bridge’s “There is a willow grows aslant a brook,” his atmospheric reflection on the death of Ophelia; Gerald Finzi’s “Let us Garlands bring,” song settings of some of the Bard’s memorable texts; a suite from Florent Schmitt’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” in a recent recording by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta; and a special treat from the pen of Erich Wolfgang Korngold – his imaginative arrangements of music by Felix Mendelssohn made for a 1935 film version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which starred James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, and a 15 year-old Mickey Rooney as Puck.

How now, spirit! Whither wander thee? It’s all Shakespeare this morning until 11:00 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend…

April 28, 2016
Shakespeare on WPRB Final Show April 28

Time is growing short.

Tomorrow marks the final installment of our four-part salute to William Shakespeare on WPRB. Every Thursday morning in April, we have been honoring the Bard with music inspired by his writings, to mark the 400th anniversary of his shuffling off this mortal coil on April 23, 1616 (also the anniversary of his birth, though 52 years earlier).

We have five hours in which to hear any or all of the following: Frank Bridge’s “There is a willow grows aslant a brook,” Ernest Chausson’s “The Tempest,” Cecil Cole’s “Comedy of Errors Overture,” Gabriel Fauré’s “Shylock,” Gerald Finzi’s “Let us Garlands bring,” Florent Schmitt’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” Bedrich Smetana’s “Richard III,” and Johan Wagenaar’s “The Taming of the Shrew Overture,” among others.

‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Conscience does make cowards of us all, on Classic Ross Amico.

#Shakespeare400

April 27, 2016
Shakespeare Music Korngold Zemlinsky on WPRB
Right now, we’re listening to some of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s music for “Much Ado About Nothing.” Though he wrote it in his early 20s, for a 1919 production of the play in Vienna, the “Korngold sound” is already very much in evidence. It would later serve him well during his time in Hollywood, where he would compose music for films like “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” Later on in the hour, we’ll hear music by Korngold’s teacher, Alexander Zemlinsky, written for a production of Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline.”

Around 9:00, we’ll be joined by William Walker of The Princeton Singers, who will tell us all about the choir’s Shakespeare-inspired concerts coming up this Saturday evening at Princeton University Art Museum.

Before the morning is out, we’ll hear Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Serenade to Music” (on a text from “The Merchant of Venice”) and Paul Moravec’s 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning composition, “Tempest Fantasy.” It’s all Shakespeare Thursday mornings until 11:00 EDT, as we commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death (on April 23, 1616), on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

“Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again. And then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again.”
- Caliban, “The Tempest,” Act III, scene 2
April 21, 2016

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