For the nearly two decades that I hosted WWFM’s weekend mornings, I presented special shows on Father’s Day – as indeed I did on most holidays.

Naturally, as the years went by, these became more and more elaborate, as a result of the cumulative material I was able to uncover. I played music written by composers from classical music dynasties, music performed by composers’ offspring, performer families playing music together, and music dedicated from father to son and vice versa, with the odd piece written specifically about fathers and family (Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro,” Richard Strauss’ “Sinfonia Domestica,” Percy Grainger’s “Father and Daughter,” Wolf-Ferrari’s “The School for Fathers,” Hugo Alfven’s “The Prodigal Son”). By the end of my run, it had gotten to the point where I could have programmed the entire day had they allowed me.

I admit, I am just as happy at this point to have my Sunday mornings to myself, but I still can’t resist posting a few things for Father’s Day. I hope you enjoy them.

Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber (brother of Andrew Lloyd Webber) plays music by his father, William Lloyd Webber:

Eric Ewazen’s memorial to his father, the oboe concerto “Down a River of Time”:

Howard Hanson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Symphony No. 4, “Requiem,” dedicated to the memory of his father:

Mov’t I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWoq9Pgcjss
Mov’t II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kigbLmK9ZJs
Mov’t III https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TrA0WDZs-4
Mov’t IV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmb2P2Ec0Gs

If you need to cut to the chase, just listen to the last movement. So beautiful.

PHOTO: William Lloyd Webber (left), pater familias of the Lloyd Webber household