Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WWFM

Friday the 13th Music for Unlucky Composers

Suffering from triskaidekaphobia? Join me on this Friday the 13th for music by composers who were afflicted with extraordinary bad luck.

Jean-Baptiste Lully, also an accomplished dancer, injured his toe while pounding the floor with a heavy stick to mark time; the resultant infection killed him. Anton Webern violated curfew when he snuck out on his porch for a smoke and was shot by an American soldier. Ernest Chausson lost control of his bicycle and fatally slammed into a brick wall. Fire tore through Geirr Tveitt’s cabin and destroyed four-fifths of his compositional output, driving him to alcoholism. Friedrich Kuhlau blinded himself when he fell on a bottle at the age of seven; later, he died of complications after being left out in the cold all night as his house burned to the ground. Charles-Valentin Alkan was reaching for a copy of the Talmud, located on a high shelf, when the bookcase toppled, crushing him. Henry Purcell developed pneumonia after his wife locked him out of the house for coming home late after one too many pub crawls. Alexander Scriabin died of a septic carbuncle. Tchaikovsky drank cholera-contaminated water. Jean-Marie Leclair was found murdered in his room. Alessandro Stradella was set upon by unidentified assassins.

None of these misfortunes occurred on Friday the 13th. Toss some salt over your shoulder and sit back and enjoy, this Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org. And then stick around for a good luck charm forged by wizards and sorcerers on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, at 6.

BONUS! Read about Giuseppe Verdi and the Evil Eye:

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/verdi/guides/verdis-curse-evil-eye/

October 13, 2017
Dolce Suono Ensemble Plays Higdon & More

Artistic director Mimi Stillman named her Dolce Suono Ensemble after a passage in Dante’s “Divine Comedy” that reads “…in voce mista al dolce suono” (“…the words blending with the sweet sound”).

There will be sweet sounds aplenty on today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, which will come your way from the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, PA. On the program will be music by Jean Sibelius, Philippe Gaubert, Antonin Dvořák, Claude Debussy, and Leonard Bernstein, with two works by Philadelphia composers: Andrea Clearfield’s “Spirit Island” and Jennifer Higdon’s “American Canvas.”

“American Canvas” falls into three movements, each named for a different visual artist – Georgia O’Keefe, Jackson Pollock, and Andrew Wyeth. The Brandywine Museum, of course, houses an extensive collection of canvases painted by three generations of the Wyeth family.

“American Canvas” was composed on a commission from the Dolce Suono Ensemble with grants from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia and the William Penn Foundation. The Dolce Suono Trio consists of flutist and artistic director Mimi Stillman, pianist Charles Abramovic, and cellist Nathan Vickery. Stillman will introduce each of the pieces from the Brandywine stage.

Dolce Suono’s next concert will explore the musical tastes of the Founding Fathers and the musical culture of Philadelphia around the founding of our nation. The ensemble will present “Music in the Second Capital” this Sunday at 3 p.m. at Old Pine St Presbyterian Church, 412 Pine Street, Philadelphia. For more information, look online at dolcesuono.com/events.

Following today’s Noontime Concert, stick around for a complete recording of the “Messa da Requiem” by Giuseppe Verdi, as we celebrate the Italian master’s 204th birthday. There will be sweet sounds aplenty, this Tuesday, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

October 10, 2017
Janis Ivanovs Symphony No 20 WWFM

This is making the rounds on the Twitters, but I thought I’d also share it here. Coming up at 4:30 EDT on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org, we celebrate the birthday of Latvian composer Janis Ivanovs with his Symphony No. 20 — heard on glorious vinyl!

October 9, 2017
Columbus Day Classical Composers

On this Columbus Day, discover music by Johann Wilhelm Hertel, Camille Saint-Saëns, Janis Ivanovs, and Einojuhani Rautavaara. We’ll celebrate the birthday anniversaries of this very interesting assortment, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PHOTO: A callow Classic Ross Amico backstage with Einojuhani Rautavaara at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music in 2000, following the premiere of the composer’s Symphony No. 8 “The Journey.” The photo was taken by Anssi Blomstedt, grandson of Jean Sibelius.

October 9, 2017
English Documentary Music: Vaughan Williams & More

It’s not that I don’t have any commercial sense; I just don’t care. If I were in it for the money, I’d be in another line of work. Anyway, if it moves me or interests me, I am pretty sure it will interest some of you. After all, what could be more engaging than an hour of… ENGLISH DOCUMENTARY MUSIC?

This week on “Picture Perfect,” though perhaps not exactly by popular demand, we’ll listen to four examples of such scores.

In England, unlike in the United States, there is no demarcation between “film composer” and “concert composer.” What is often regarded here as “hack work,” is seen there as just another aspect of what it means to be a working artist. There is no disgrace in a composer earning a living, and some of the nation’s greatest musicians – including those in the employ of the Royal Family – have contributed finely-crafted works to its body of cinema.

With this in mind, we’ll hear music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, from “The People’s Land” (1942), Benjamin Britten, from “The King’s Stamp” (1935), William Alwyn, from “The Green Girdle” (1941), and Sir Arthur Bliss, from “The Royal Palaces of Britain” (1966). All four films are patriotic utterances on distinctly English themes.

You may not have seen any of the movies, but the music is beautiful. I hope you’ll join me for selections from English documentaries, this Friday evening at 6 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

The complete documentary short, “The People’s Land,” is posted on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpRtM8FcBb4

As is “The Green Girdle:”

And “The King’s Stamp”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gSsJHlLFg4

Thank you, Internet!

PHOTO: It’s not about what you think

October 6, 2017

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