Hail to the Chiefs!

You’d better sail through those white sales. You’ll want to be near an electronic device at 4:00 today for my annual State of the Union on The Classical Network. I’ll be revving up the musical automatons at the Hall of Presidents for Presidents Day.

We’ll hear works inspired by Thomas Jefferson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and of course George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Of course, I already played an hour’s worth of music in celebration of Lincoln for his birthday (February 12), but our 16th president inspired more note-spinning than can be crammed into a stovepipe hat.

If you’re looking to buy a roll of quarters, you may be out of luck, the banks are closed. But Washington will be well represented, in Virgil Thomson’s naïf ballet “Parson Weems and the Cherry Tree” (a Bicentennial commission), George Antheil’s rousing concert overture, “McKonkey’s Ferry (Washington at Trenton),” and John Lampkin’s “George Washington Slept Here.”

Composer Victoria Bond wrote four portraits of presidential character, for narrator and instrumental soloist. These were released on her album, “Soul of a Nation,” on the Albany Records label. The title track incorporates a violin for Thomas Jefferson, “The Indispensable Man” a clarinet for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The Crowded Hours” a trumpet for Theodore Roosevelt, and “Pater Patriae” a flute for George Washington. I’ll select one of these for airplay this afternoon.

Peter Lieberson’s “Remembering JFK” was composed for the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy inauguration. Its moving narration, compiled from the president’s own words, will be delivered by Richard Dreyfuss. Where have all the statesmen gone?

And, as an added curiosity, Chester A. Arthur disliked “Hail to the Chief” so intensely that he asked John Philip Sousa to write a replacement anthem. We’ll find time for that, too.

There may be no mail today, but we’ll sure sift through plenty of junk. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating Presidents Day, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.