Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WWFM

Notre Dame Tragedy Remembering Paris’ Icon

I was watching on a television at the college this afternoon as the spire fell from atop Notre Dame Cathedral. It made me sick to my stomach. This is a loss that extends beyond any religious connotations (which in this case are enormous). The historical and cultural significance of Notre Dame is unquantifiable. Notre Dame IS Paris. No doubt “Our Lady” will rise again, but 13th century is 13th century. Such a tragedy.

I will do what I can to honor this magnificent landmark tomorrow afternoon, following the Noontime Concert, from approximately 1 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 15, 2019
Tax Day Treasures Classical Music for April 15th

April 15th. Hopefully you aren’t feeling too overtaxed.

Whether you are daydreaming about a fat return or speculating about which ledge you should leap from, I hope you’ll join me this afternoon on The Classical Network for music about found and lost money, precious metals, careless spending, currency and coins, treasures sought, penury, and good old fashioned tax protest.

Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry in protest of exorbitant taxation. On the other side of the coin, when told that her subjects had no bread, Marie-Antoinette is alleged to have responded, “Let them eat cake!” Both will be represented musically, in works by Vítězslav Novák and Franz Joseph Haydn.

We’ll seek treasure with Franz Schreker. We’ll look with sardonic befuddlement upon “The Age of Gold” with Dmitri Shostakovich. Antonio Salieri will show us what it is like to be rich for a day. Beethoven will rage over a lost penny. Franz Lehár will shower us with gold and silver. And we’ll gaze with envy upon Kurt Atterberg’s “Dollar” Symphony.

Of course, there will be music from “The Threepenny Opera,” by Kurt Weill. We’ll also hear Weill sing “Very, Very, Very,” from “One Touch of Venus,” which begins, “One way to be very wealthy is to be very, very, very rich…” You can’t argue with that.

Feeling a little depleted? Great music is always a sound investment, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 15, 2019
Beecham’s Handel Rediscovery

Sir Thomas Beecham was championing Handel before it was cool.

At a time when most people’s knowledge of the composer’s large-scale vocal works began and ended with “Messiah,” Beecham was dipping into the operas and polishing up the oratorios for the delectation of a new age. He defended these curations and modifications, stating that “without some effort along these lines, the greater portion of [Handel’s] magnificent output will remain unplayed, possibly to the satisfaction of drowsy armchair purists, but hardly to the advantage of the keenly alive and enquiring concertgoer.”

Experience the vitality of Beecham’s beautiful Handel realizations this week on “The Lost Chord.” That’s “Handeling Beecham,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 14, 2019
Andrew Rudin 80th Birthday Concert on WWFM

I suppose it’s no secret – there’s an 80th birthday concert coming up at Bargemusic in Brooklyn tomorrow night – but it sure as hell stunned me to learn that Andrew Rudin is now four score. In addition to being a very fine composer, the evergreen Rudin, of course, was once a regular presence on the airwaves as a music host at WWFM.

A former student of George Rochberg, Rudin writes uncompromising music of great integrity, yet manages to communicate with the listener without pandering. Nowhere is that more evident than in his attractive Piano Concerto, a recording of which I will include, among my featured works today, between 4 and 6 p.m. EDT, on The Classical Network. If you like Bartók or Ravel, give this one a shot.

I’ll also mark the birthday anniversaries of Eugen d’Albert, Yefim Bronfman, Jorge Mester, and Victor de Sabata.

There’s nothing quite like Schubert for a good palate cleanser. Wait a minute, that’s sherbet I’m thinking of. At any rate, come 6:00, enjoy an all-Schubert hour on the next “Music from Marlboro.”

Among the melancholy masterpieces churned out during Schubert’s remarkably productive final year, the Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D. 898, actually comes across as comparatively light-hearted.

We’ll hear it performed at the 2008 Marlboro Music Festival by pianist Jonathan Biss, violinist David Bowlin, and cellist Marcy Rosen. Biss, who is on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, was recently named co-artistic director (with Mitsuko Uchida) of Marlboro Music.

Finally, we’ll turn to what may have been the last music Schubert ever wrote. “The Shepherd on the Rock,” D. 965, was completed barely a month before the composer’s death at the age of 31. This multi-sectional “lied” traverses a broad range of emotions, as a shepherd listens to echoes from the valley below, grapples with feelings of loneliness, and finds hope in the prospect of Spring and renewal.

Marlboro legends, soprano Benita Valente, clarinetist Harold Wright, and pianist Rudolf Serkin, set down a classic recording of the work in 1960. We’ll hear a live performance captured at Marlboro nine years later.

In all, it will be a playlist in celebration of births and renewals, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

April 10, 2019
Richard Arnell Rediscovered on WWFM

It’s been brought to my attention by Patrick Jonathan that tomorrow will mark the tenth anniversary of the passing of English composer Richard Arnell. While I am not in the habit of commemorating death anniversaries, I will make an exception in the case of this neglected and deserving composer of much attractive and inspirational music.

Join me today on The Classical Network, following today’s Noontime Concert, for a sampling of Arnell’s output. Just how much of it will be heard remains to be seen. I’ve pretty much got a clean slate from 1 to 4 p.m. EDT.

First, we’re off to midtown Manhattan for another concert presented under the auspices of Gotham Early Music Scene (or GEMS). Empire Viols will perform a program of transcriptions of organ trios by Johann Sebastian Bach and Bach pupil Johann Ludwig Krebs. The concert was given last June at Saint Bartholomew’s Church, 325 Park Avenue, as part of GEMS’ free Midtown Concerts series. Free concerts are held at St. Bart’s every Thursday at 1:15 p.m. This Thursday, Douglas Lundeen will perform a recital of French works composed for the piston-valve French horn. To find out more, visit gemsny.org.

Then stay tuned, as I dip into my arsenal of Arnell. I’ll be manning the cannons against the canon, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

If you’re interested, here’s a link to a conversation I had with Warren Cohen, music director of the MusicaNova Orchestra. Musica Nova is a really fascinating organization, based in Phoenix, AZ, that bills itself as presenting “the greatest music you’ve never heard – yet.” Cohen knew Arnell personally and gave the U.S. premieres of a number of his major works. The interview took place on the occasion of the composer’s centenary. The soundfile includes a Musica Nova performance of Arnell’s Symphony No. 5 – subtitled “The Gorilla!” – and Cohen’s beautiful arrangement for string orchestra, sanctioned by the composer, of the Elegy from Arnell’s String Quartet No. 3.

April 9, 2019

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