Alexander Borodin was a professional chemist, with little time to compose. Usually, he took forever to finish a piece of music. But one summer, he took some time off work and wrote a string quartet. The Jerusalem String Quartet plays Borodin's String Quartet No. 2, in concert in New York City. And Yefim Bronfman (pictured) plays Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, from a concert in London. Shostakovich wrote it in honor of his son Maxim's 19th birthday.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Peter Tchaikovsky: June, from the Seasons, Op. 37b
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Claudio Monteverdi: Pur ti Miro, from the Coronation of Poppea
Maxine Eilander, baroque harp, Stephen Stubbs, lute
Boston Early Music Festival, Boston
The Piano Puzzler: This week's contestant is Reuben Manring from Columbia, Missouri
Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Partita No. 3 in E, BWV 1006
Gil Shaham, violin
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F, Op. 102
Yefim Bronfman, piano, the London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev, conductor
Barbican Hall, London, England
Frederic Chopin: Etude No. 12 in C Minor, Op. 10 (Revolutionary)
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Barbican Hall, London, England
Hour 2
Alexander Borodin: Tarantella in D
Marco Rapetti and Giampaolo Nuti, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven: Coriolan Overture in C Minor for Orchestra, Op. 62
The Texas Festival Orchestra, Gregory Vajda, conductor
International Festival-Institute at Round Top, Round Top, Texas
Alexander Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 in D
The Jerusalem String Quartet
Alice Tully Hall, New York City
Peter Tchaikovsky: Waltz from Serenade for Strings in C, Op. 48
The French National Orchestra, Kurt Masur, conductor
Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris, France
Johann Strauss, Jr.: Napoleon March, Op. 156
The Vienna Philharmonic, Georges Pretre, conductor
Musikverein, Vienna, Austria
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