Today would have been the 100th birthday of “supervirtuoso” Abbey Simon. Simon, who studied with legendary pianist Josef Hofmann at the Curtis Institute of Music, died only a few weeks ago, on December 18.
We’ll celebrate his artistry alongside that of Vladimir Feltsman, also born on this date, and Liszt rival Sigismond Thalberg.
If that seems like an awful lot of piano music, we’ll also send birthday greetings to Zdeněk Mácal, one-time music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and composers Hans von Bülow (the celebrated Wagner conductor), Jaromir Weinberger (of “Schwanda” fame), Benjamin Lees (a pupil of George Antheil), and Philadelphia’s own Robert Moran.
Sorry, no time for Elvis!
At 6:00, it’s another “Music from Marlboro.” Keep looking up, with an all-Mozart hour, including his “Jupiter” Symphony, conducted by Pablo Casals.
I hope you’ll join me, as always, in marking time with the timeless, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
