Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WWFM

Nordic Sounds on The Classical Network Today

It will be difficult to ignore the Nordic today on The Classical Network.

Join me at noon for a broadcast concert featuring Mélomanie, the Delaware-based ensemble that specializes in provocative pairings of early and contemporary works. On the program will be sonatas by Swedish baroque composers Johan Helmich Roman and Johan Joachim Agrell, as well as works for electric violin by Icelander Eva Ingolf and American Mark Hagerty. Ingolf’s “Lava Flow” was inspired by the image of an erupting volcano. Hagerty’s “Raven Thoughts” alludes to Odin’s ravens, Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory). The odd man out will be Sergio Roberto de Oliveira, whose “Angico” was inspired by his family vacation home in the Brazilian mountains.

Mélomanie’s next concert will be held at The German Society of Pennsylvania, 611 Spring Garden Street, in Philadelphia, on January 29 at 3 p.m. To find out more about Mélomanie, visit the ensemble’s website, at melomanie.org.

Following the broadcast concert, stick around for a major work by Jean Sibelius. I’ll be especially stoic as I quaff my mead today from noon to 4:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

January 17, 2017
MLK Day Hear Inspiring Black Composers on WWFM

Martin Luther King Day.

Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Schwantner’s “New Morning for the World (Daybreak of Freedom),” on a text drawn from King’s speeches, still not available on CD? In this fine recording? Why?

Hear it today, on glorious vinyl, alongside music rendered by pioneering African-American composers and performers, including Marian Anderson, Harry T. Burleigh, Natalie Hinderas, Florence Price, William Grant Still and George Walker, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

January 16, 2017
MLK Day Vinyl Spin on WWFM Classical Network

Spinning a neglected contemporary classic from vinyl on WWFM – The Classical Network for Martin Luther King Day. Just to avoid any confusion over ownership, I snagged this from the WWFM library probably close to 20 years ago, back when the station was liquidating its LPs. I think Bill Zagorski must have gotten the rest…

January 16, 2017
Adolphus Hailstork’s Music Inspired by MLK

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.”

So said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On this, the anniversary of King’s birth, we’ll turn our attention to American composer of African descent Adolphus Hailstork. Hailstork, a late pupil of Nadia Boulanger, is currently professor of music and composer-in-residence at Old Dominion University at Norfolk, Virginia.

We’ll present an hour of his music tonight on “The Lost Chord,” including his oratorio, “Done Made My Vow.” The work, for speaker, vocal soloists, mixed chorus and orchestra, was composed in 1985, inspired in part by King’s speeches.

I’ve been an admirer of Hailstork’s music since the 1980s – I very much enjoy his Symphony No. 1, composed in 1988, with its gorgeous slow movement – but he has been a force in American music since at least the 1970s.

His overture “Celebration” was included in Columbia Records’ landmark “Black Composers Series.” The conductor of that performance, Paul Freeman, would later champion Hailstork’s music in recordings on the Albany label.

Tune in tonight to also enjoy his “Variations for Trumpet” with Rodney Mack.

I hope you’ll join me for “All Hail Hailstork,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

The recording of “Done Made My Vow” is available only through the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gift shop, at http://www.bsomusic.org/online-store/bso-recordings/adolphus-hailstork-i-will-lift-up-mine-eyes.aspx

January 15, 2017
Friday Fun Classical Music Broadcast

After a long week at the office, what better way to get a jump on the weekend than with a little karaoke? Join me this afternoon at 4:00 EST to hear Leopold Stokowski conduct his own symphonic synthesis from Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov.” No one cares if you don’t exactly sound like Chaliapin when you’re stuck in Friday traffic.

I’ll get you in the mood with the overture “Tsar Boris” by the regrettably short-lived Russian composer Vasily Kalinnikov, whose birthday anniversary it is today – but you’ll want to be there at 4 sharp!

At 6:00, it’s “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies. It will be a program devoted to “arch harpsichords” in mysteries and thrillers. On this Friday the 13th, why not? I’ll have more about it on my Facebook page later this afternoon.

Toss some salt over your shoulder, caress a rabbit’s foot (preferably while it’s still on the rabbit), and join me today between 4 and 7:00 EST for plenty of musical good luck, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

January 13, 2017

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