Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WPRB

Haydn’s The Seasons on WPRB Princeton

Taking a look at the weather forecast for the Princeton area reminds us that March can be a crazy time. Spring may be here, according to the calendar, but with mostly sunny skies expected today, with highs in the lower 70s, and breezy conditions on Sunday, with highs in the mid-40s (and more snow on the way next week!), everyone’s thoughts are very much on the seasons.

What better time, then, to enjoy a performance of Franz Joseph Haydn’s oratorio on the subject? Based on texts prepared by Baron Gottfried von Swieten from the poetry of James Thomson, “The Seasons” has always been the poor stepbrother to Haydn’s smash hit, “The Creation.” It’s a critic’s darling, though, and it should be one of yours, too.

You’ll have a chance to enjoy it this morning in a classic performance, one of the best of Sir Thomas Beecham’s later years, beginning in the 8:00 hour.

We’re celebrating the music of Haydn on his birthday until 11:00 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

March 31, 2016
Haydn’s Birthday on Classic Ross Amico

Tomorrow is the birthday of Franz Joseph Haydn. It may seem uncharacteristic of me, given my obvious preference for music composed after about 1890, but I’ve always been partial to Papa, and I am inclined to pay him homage.

I can’t promise that I will be playing all-Haydn on my show tomorrow morning on WPRB; but then again, I can’t promise that I won’t. If I feel the need to spice it up a bit, I may stir in a little neoclassicism, courtesy of composers like Bohuslav Martinu and Harold Shapero, and garnish it with a tribute or two by composers like Marcel Grandjany and Norman Dello Joio.

On the other hand, I could diminish my listenership considerably with back-to-back airings of Haydn’s wonderful oratorios, “The Creation” and “The Seasons.” The timings indicate that they would just about fit. Though if there’s anything to be learned from Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” it’s that just because we can doesn’t mean that we should.

This is truly the most classic insight into the making of Classic Ross Amico. Odds are that I’ll show up with a suitcase full of CDs ten minutes before air-time and start making my decisions then.

There’s no Haydn the fact that I’m ill-prepared. Tune in to share in my humiliation, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll remember Papa, on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Is that a pinky ring?

March 30, 2016
Maundy Thursday: Origins & Passion Week Music

Is it Maundy, or is it Thursday? Why, it’s Maundy Thursday!

“Maundy” is most likely derived from the Latin “mandatum,” as in “Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos” (“A new commandment I give you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you”). Or it could come from the Middle English and Old French words “maund” and “mendier,” respectively, after the Latin “mendicare,” meaning to beg.

In any case, we are now entering the holiest days of the Christian calendar. Maundy Thursday commemorates Jesus’ washing of the feet of his disciples, the Last Supper, and the betrayal and arrest of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.

This morning on WPRB, we’ll have music inspired by the events of Passion Week, when Christians mark the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. We’ll have a setting of the Stabat Mater, a poignant work for string quartet inspired by Christ’s reflections in the garden on the eve of his crucifixion, and a symphonic poem inspired by the same.

It won’t all be hardcore, however. We’ll also have music of a more generalized reflective or mystical nature. For instance, later on in this hour, we’ll hear William Alwyn’s gorgeous harp concerto, “Lyra Angelica,” which was popularized by figure skater Michelle Kwan when she used it as the basis for one of her performances during the 1998 Winter Olympics.

I hope you’ll join me this morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com, as we get passionate about Holy Week on Classic Ross Amico.

PHOTO: Early 13th century depiction by an unknown artist of Christ washing the feet of his disciples, located in the Basilica di San Marco in Venice

March 24, 2016
Holy Week Music Judas’s Betrayal on WPRB

Not only did Judas betray Jesus, he forgot to bring horseradish to the Last Supper. Have you ever had gefilte fish without horseradish? Thanks a lot, Judas.

Also, he was a lousy kisser.

If you stick around for the remainder of my shift, here’s some of the music you’ll get to enjoy: Ottorino Respighi’s “Church Windows,” Maurice Duruflé’s “Four Motets on Gregorian Themes,” Victor de Sabata’s symphonic poem “Gethsemani,” Karol Szymanowski’s “Stabat Mater,” and Paul Creston’s Symphony No. 3 “Three Mysteries.”

Those and more, as we continue our musical observation of Holy Week for this Maundy Thursday, until 11 EDT on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com

March 24, 2016
Holy Week Music on WPRB

Have you got a passion for Passions? Do you think Stabat Maters matter? Tune in to WPRB tomorrow morning for music for Holy Week. That’s right, it’s wholly music for Passiontide.

Well, not wholly. We’ll have some selections of a broadly mystical nature (William Alwyn’s harp concerto, “Lyra Angelica,” for instance), works of a meditative bent (for example, John Tavener’s “Song of the Angel”), and perhaps a couple of pieces concerning hope and renewal (such as Edmund Rubbra’s “Resurgam Overture”).

Otherwise, it will be music inspired by the Passion story, ranging roughly from Palm Sunday through, possibly, the observation of Russian Easter. Some of it will be purely orchestral (Paul Creston’s Symphony No. 3 “Three Mysteries,” Victor De Sabata’s “Gethsemani”) and some will include vocal soloists and chorus (Karol Szymanowski’s “Stabat Mater”).

Also, a certain listener has been requesting Eugene Ormandy’s recording of Respighi’s “Church Windows” since June, probably. Now seems as good a time as any to blast that out. For my own edification, I may have to play Vaughan Williams’ “Five Mystical Songs,” with the great John Shirley-Quirk.

This is a radio show, not a church service, so nobody freak out if an “Alleluia” or a “Gloria” slip into the mix, okay? We’re here to celebrate the music, not to scrupulously observe the minutiae of tradition. I’ll be lining the CD case with Easter grass, tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com, and wishing you peace, hope, and happiness, on Classic Ross Amico.

March 23, 2016

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