Classic Ross Amico

Tag: WWFM

Franz Liszt Underrated Genius Radio Tribute

He is one of history’s most influential and undersold composers.

A champion of program music (music intended to express extramusical ideas), the inventor of the symphonic poem, a pioneer of structural innovation, and an explorer of strange new harmonies, Franz Liszt seldom gets the credit he deserves. By contrast, a composer like Richard Wagner (Liszt’s son-in-law) is revered for the “Tristan chord,” a kind of shot-heard-‘round-the-world that is said to have changed music. It’s seldom noted that it was but one of the ideas Wagner “borrowed” from Liszt.

As a conductor, Liszt’s energetic promotion of composers like Hector Berlioz and Wagner – then a political fugitive – marred with scandal and intrigues his tenure at the Weimar court. For his pains, he was frequently attacked by critics, derided by his peers, and undercut by his own showmanship.

No one seems to contest that he was one of the most remarkable pianists who ever lived, but the assessment is often tempered by charges of vulgarity, of crass pandering to sensation and to the mob.

Liszt played benefit concerts for victims of flood and fire, as well as for political refugees, spearheaded the creation of a monument to and festival for Beethoven in Bonn, never charged a fee for his lessons to his many pupils, and selflessly promoted the works of others, including (beside Berlioz and Wagner) Grieg, Smetana, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, and Borodin.

This is the thanks he gets?

At the very least, I think he deserves three hours of airplay on his birthday. I hope you’ll join me this afternoon for a mix of piano and orchestral works, choral music and lieder, and transcriptions and fantasies of famous works by other composers.

It will be an all-Liszt playlist, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

October 22, 2018
WWFM Asks: What Makes Us Unique?

A regular WWFM listener shared this with the station during this afternoon’s celebration of the birthday of Franz Liszt. I thought you might enjoy it.

Don’t forget, we’re looking for you to share your personal observations on what makes us unique. Can you “Hear the Difference?”

As we move toward our Fall Membership Campaign, we’re asking you, our listeners, to take a moment to tell us exactly what it is that you love about WWFM, and what it is that makes us stand apart.

You can send us your thoughts by heading over to the station website at wwfm.org and clicking on the “Hear the Difference” box, at the upper right corner of the screen. Type your comments into the box, then hit submit. We’ll share them later this week, as we encourage others to step up and join you in support of the great – and unique – classical music programming we provide every day.

If your membership is up for renewal, please take a moment to continue your commitment by clicking on “donate.”

You don’t have to sell your soul for great music. Your financial support is all we require. Thank you for doing your part to sustain the music we all love, on WWFM – The Classical Network.

October 22, 2018
Bach & Beyond with The Dryden Ensemble

Ah! Few things are as warming in the middle of a school day as a “Bach’s lunch” – especially when it has been packaged so lovingly.

Join me for today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, when we’ll present “Bach & Beyond,” with The Dryden Ensemble. On the menu will be music by George Philipp Telemann, Johann Gottlieb Janitsch, Johann Christian Bach, and Johann Sebastian Bach himself. The only thing missing will be a note from Mom.

The Dryden Ensemble’s Bach Cantata Fest will be presented on two concerts this weekend: on Saturday, October 20, at 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, 6587 Upper York Road, in Solebury, PA; and on Sunday, October 21, at 3 p.m., at Miller Chapel, on the campus of Princeton Theological Seminary.

The program will include the Cantatas 87 and 154, with selected Bach arias performed by mezzo-soprano Kristen Dubenion-Smith, tenor Jason McStoots, and baritone William Sharp.

The Dryden Ensemble is made up of artistic director Jane McKinley and Julie Brye, oboes; Vita Wallace and Dongmyung Ahn, violins; Andrea Andros, viola; Rebecca Humphrey, cello; Motomi Igarashi, double bass; Daniel Swenberg, theorbo, and Webb Wiggins, chamber organ, all performing on period instruments.

The ensemble will continue its celebration of Bach on November 10 at 3 p.m. with a Bach organ recital performed by Jacob Street at Miller Chapel on the Princeton Theological Seminary campus. On January 19 & 20 the group will present “Queen Christina Goes to Rome,” a theatrical program featuring two acclaimed actors. The season will conclude on April 6 & 7 with Musica Stravagante and glorious music for oboe and strings by Albinoni, Vivaldi, Biber, Bach, and others. Tickets and information are available at drydensensemble.org.

Following today’s broadcast concert, stick around for the Symphony in B flat by Alexander Zemlinsky, a work written very much under the influence of Brahms and Dvořák. Zemlinsky’s style would evolve. Some of his mature works undoubtedly achieve greater distinction, but there’s something to be said for great tunes and abundant charm. He also happened to be the teacher of Arnold Schoenberg and Vienna’s great musical prodigy of the day, Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Korngold, of course, went on to become one of the great film composers. He applied the same romantic opulence that made his operas so successful to his work for the silver screen. His Piano Trio in D major, Op. 1, written at the age of 13, reveals him to be already in command of the distinctive musical language that would serve him so well.

Schoenberg too wound up in Hollywood. He may have been the godfather of dodecaphonic music, but his neoclassical Suite for String Orchestra in G, his first piece composed in the New World, could almost be described as a charmer. This work “in the olden style” is wholly tonal and betrays the composer’s love of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

I hope you’ll join me for Bach and beyond today. The lunch box doubles as a music box, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

October 16, 2018
Hear the Difference Classical Music Matters

Can you hear the difference?

At The Classical Network, we’re proud to offer programming and musical selections unlike what you often hear at other stations – and our listeners have told us that makes us stand out.

As we move toward our Fall Membership Campaign, we’re asking you, our listeners, to “Hear the Difference,” and to take a moment to tell us what exactly it is that you love about WWFM, and what it is that makes us different.

Send us your thoughts by heading over to our website at wwfm.org and clicking on the “Hear the Difference” box at the top upper right corner of the screen. Type your comments into the box, then hit submit, and we’ll share them next week, as we encourage other listeners to step up and join you in support of the great – and unique – classical music programming we provide every day on The Classical Network.

And if your membership is up for renewal, please take a moment to renew your commitment by going to wwfm.org and clicking on “donate.”

As always, thank you for supporting WWFM – The Classical Network.

October 16, 2018
Eerie Poe Music on the Classical Network

October 15 – beware the Ides of October!

With Hallowe’en fast descending on raven wings, what better time to don your black frock coat and brood over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore? I’ll conclude my shift early this evening on The Classical Network (the 6:00 hour) with music inspired by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe.

For the birthday of Arcady Dubensky (1890-1966), we’ll hear “The Raven,” a “melo-declamation” for narrator and orchestra. The work was given its premiere by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski at the Academy of Music in 1932. The performance was preserved on an experimental recording made by RCA Victor, on 35mm optical film, and issued as a special 78 rpm 2-record set. Included was the original poem, and monochrome engravings of Stokowski and Poe were etched into the shellac. The speaker will be Benjamin de Loache.

The fact that I will be in an hour earlier than usual enhances the atmosphere of eerie premonition. It should give us plenty of time also to observe the birthdays of composers Dag Wiren and Jaan Rääts, clarinetist and composer Bernhard Crusell, philosopher and composer Friedrich Nietzsche, and conductor Karl Richter.

Again, the Poe-inflected works will be heard in the final hour. Nothing assuages guilt and madness like laudanum and Edgar Allan Poe music. Join me one hour earlier today, from 3 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

October 15, 2018

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS