I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say the music world was stunned by the news on January 17 that Vladimir Ashkenazy is now retired, effective immediately. The announcement came with no advance notice. There will be no farewell tour, and all engagements for 2020 have been cancelled.

This afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll celebrate the legacy of this superb and beloved artist, with nearly three hours of his recordings.

Ashkenazy, who is indisputably one of the greatest pianists of his time – which is to say, of the past half century – is also a conductor of merit. We’ll hear him in both capacities, performing music by Beethoven, Boris Blacher, André Previn, Jean Sibelius, and of course Sergei Rachmaninoff.

First, on today’s Noontime Concert, rising musicians of Philadelphia’s Astral Artists will perform Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2 in G major and Sibelius’ String Quartet in D minor “Voces Intimae.”

After that, it’s all-Ashkenazy. The music-making will Rach your world, between 12 and 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.