Right now on Classic Ross Amico, we’re listening to Frank Martin’s “Piano Trio on Irish Folk Tunes.” Yet to come, Sir Arthur Sullivan’s “Irish Symphony,” and selections performed by the great Irish tenor, John McCormack (pictured). We’ll also have music by Irish composer Joan Trimble. We’re hoisting a few for St. Patty’s this morning, until 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.
Tag: WPRB
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St Patricks Day Classic Ross Amico
Get ready to get your Irish up! Brace yourself for the cosmic convergence of St. Patrick’s Day and Classic Ross Amico.
Join me tomorrow morning, when we’ll have music from Ireland and on Irish themes, with works by native composers Philip Hammond, Sir Hamilton Harty, John Larchet, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, and Joan Trimble; composers of Irish descent Edward Joseph Collins, Henry Cowell, Augusta Holmès and Sir Arthur Sullivan; and Irishmen-for-a-day Sir Arnold Bax, Ludwig van Beethoven, Percy Grainger and Frank Martin, for starters.
We’ll take a short break in the 9:00 hour to speak with pianist Orli Shaham, who will be bringing her interactive program, Baby Got Bach, designed for kids 3 to 6, to Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium this Sunday at 1 p.m. Joining her for this special event will be So Percussion and Rachel Richardson of American Ballet Theatre. For more information, look online at princetonuniversityconcerts.org.
I hope you’ll join me in hoisting a Guinness, weeping over a sentimental air or two, and taking the occasional shillelagh in the teeth, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. Our Irish eyes are smiling (on our mother’s side), on Classic Ross Amico.
#StPatricksDay
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Georgian Opera on WPRB Sunday
Sandy Steiglitz is under the weather, and I’ve got Georgia on my mind.
Join me tomorrow as I fill in as a last-minute substitute for this week’s “Sunday Morning Opera.” I am looking forward to sharing a rarely-heard work by Zakharia Paliashvili (1871-1933), who is regarded as the “Father of Georgian Music.”
“Abesalom and Eteri,” composed between 1909 and 1918, is based on the medieval Georgian folk poem, “Eteriani.” In the best Romantic tradition, the story is one of star-crossed love in an historical setting. The musical language is an appealing fusion of folk song and pageantry. In 2004, excerpts from the work were adapted into the National Anthem of Georgia.
The recording we’ll hear was issued on the Deutsche Grammophon label back in the 1979, but to my knowledge it has been unavailable in the West for decades.
Join me this Sunday morning from 7 to 10:00 EDT (remember tonight is the clock change, as we spring forward into Daylight Saving Time) for this rare opportunity to enjoy Paliashvili’s “Abesalom and Eteri,” on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.
Best wishes to Sandy, and get well soon!
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Abesalom and Eteri Georgian Opera Rediscovered
With Sandy Steiglitz feeling under the weather, we emerge from under the thumb of Mother Russia with a recording of the Georgian national opera, “Abesalom and Eteri,” by Zakharia Paliashvili.
Paliashvili (1871-1933) studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory under Sergei Taneyev (a pupil of Tchaikovsky). He then returned to Georgia to collect folk songs, co-found the Georgian Philharmonic Society and head the Tblisi Conservatory.
Though virtually unknown in the West, “Abesalom” is a landmark in Georgian art music. Based on a medieval Georgian folk poem, the opera tells the tale of a star-crossed love between a prince and a shepherdess, the machinations of a treacherous chamberlain, and the gift of a poisoned necklace.
To underscore the work’s continued patriotic appeal, the Tblisi Opera House and Ballet Theatre – a structure which has been through its share of political turmoil and even been burnt to the ground twice – marked its most recent grand reopening in January with a run of performances of what is described as “the traditional season opener.”
You don’t have to be Georgian to be caught up in the haunting melodies of this beautiful, neglected opera. Join me this morning from 7 to 10 a.m. EDT (remember to take into account the change of clocks for Daylight Saving Time), as I sit in for this week’s “Sunday Morning Opera,” on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Sandy!
PHOTO: The 165 year-old Tblisi Opera House and Ballet Theatre has survived burning (twice), civil war, and financial hardship to preserve and promote Georgian culture – including annual performances of “Abesalom and Eteri”
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Forgotten Female Composers on WPRB
The “fair sex” wasn’t always treated so fairly. Join me this morning on WPRB, as we listen to neglected works by female composers, who labored at a time when the act of composition was still very much a man’s game.
We’ll hear a symphony by the only female professor at the Paris Conservatory during the whole of the 19th century; a sizeable piece for piano and orchestra by a composer generally regarded as a miniaturist; music by a woman who tied with Ernest Bloch in a composition contest but finally gave up her creative aspirations due to general indifference to her work; and an assured “serenade” for orchestra by a suffragette who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
It’s our musical salute to Women’s History Month, this morning from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. A woman’s place is in the concert hall, on Classic Ross Amico.
PORTRAIT: Louis Farrenc was a professor of piano at the Paris Conservatory for 30 years, beginning in 1842. Of course she was only allowed to teach women…
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