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Tag: WWFM

Abbey Simon Centennial WWFM Broadcast

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.

January 8, 2020
Mediterranean Musical Escape on The Classical Network

The holidays are over. Time for a vacation!

This afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll get away from it all with a musical escape to the Mediterranean.

On today’s Noontime Concert, the Alba Consort will present “Renaissance Reborn,” early music from Mediterranean France, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Armenia, with contributions from the Sephardic tradition and works from Venice, from a vibrant era when East met West. Also featured will be variations on a Machaut viralei by contemporary composer Leonard Lehrman.

The program was performed on the Midtown Concerts series, presented in part by Gotham Early Music Scene (or GEMS). These free lunchtime concerts take place on Thursdays at 1:15 p.m., at St. Bartholomew’s Church, 325 Park Avenue, in New York City.

GEMS is a non-profit corporation that supports and promotes artists and organizations in New York City devoted to early music – music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical periods. For more information about the St. Bart’s concerts and other GEMS’ events, look online at gemsny.org.

Then, following today’s concert broadcast, we’ll linger in the region with music inspired by the Mediterranean and works by composers from adjacent lands.

I hope you’ll join me for some musical souvenirs from a cruise around the Mediterranean, this afternoon from 12 to 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

January 7, 2020
Classical Birthdays Kim, Scriabin & More!

You won’t need a pick or a shovel when you join me this afternoon on The Classical Network. The streets are paved with gold! Prepare yourself for a mother lode of birthdays.

Former Princeton resident Earl Kim was born on this date 100 years ago. Kim was born in California to Korean immigrant parents in 1920. He began piano studies at the age of 10. As his focus shifted to composition, he received instruction from Arnold Schoenberg, Ernest Bloch and Roger Sessions.

Following service in WWII, Kim taught at Princeton University from 1952 to 1967. In 1967, he left for Harvard, where he remained until his retirement in 1990. Kim died of lung cancer in 1998.

His music has frequently been described as romantic in disposition, but make no mistake, his Violin Concerto, written for Itzhak Perlman in 1979, sports a modernist veneer. If you’re unfamiliar with it, fear not – just go with it. I think you’ll find it rewarding.

We’ll also celebrate the anniversaries of the births of Baroque oboist and composer Giuseppe Sammartini; pianist-composers Henri Herz, Franz Xaver Scharwenka and Alexander Scriabin; German Romantic master Max Bruch; Respighi teacher Giuseppe Martucci; one-hit wonder Vittorio Monti (of “Csárdás” fame); and conductor Maurice Abravanel. That’s a lot of cake!

We’ll put a great big candle on it in the form of a recording made by the Bach Aria Group, founded by another Princeton resident, born 106 years ago today, William H. Scheide.

There’s gold in them thar hills! Gallop on over to the Ponderosa, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, for a Birthday Bonanza, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

January 6, 2020
Classical Music on The Classical Network Today

For many, January 2 means back to work. But not for Carl Hemmingsen.

Join me this afternoon on The Classical Network, as I fill in for my hard-working, though still-vacationing, radio colleague.

First, I’ll be your host for today’s Noontime Concert, from Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center in New York City, a recital featuring violinist Chloé Kiffer and pianist Alexandre Moutouzkine. On the program will be “Fratres” by Arvo Pärt, the “Suite Italienne” by Igor Stravinsky (after “Pulcinella”), and violin sonatas by Richard Strauss and Maurice Ravel.

Then, immediately following the concert broadcast, which should conclude before 1:30, I’ll have a musical remembrance of violinist Jaap Schröder, who died on Tuesday at the age of 94.

As we approach 2:00, you’ll be the indirect beneficiary of the largesse of my friends and family, as I share some of the bounty of this year’s Christmas haul. I’ll be reaching into my stocking for newly-acquired music by George Antheil, Ruth Gipps, Wilfred Josephs, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Karl Weigl.

New Year’s is over, but there’s still plenty of peppermint and wassail in our tanks, from 12 to 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

January 2, 2020
Christmas Radio Beware Holiday Countdown

Beware! Christmas is right around the corner.

Ready or not, here it comes, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

December 23, 2019

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