Throughout history, conquering armies have been known to do some nasty, brutish things to the people they've vanquished. We'll never know if that worry was on Richard Strauss' mind when a bunch of American soldiers showed up at his door in Germany at the end of World War II. But the Americans weren't interested in murder or mayhem that day in 1945. Instead, one of the soldiers asked Strauss to write an oboe concerto for him. In today's show, German oboist Albrecht Mayer plays the Strauss Oboe Concerto, in concert in New York City.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Richard Strauss: Entrance and Dance of the Tailors, from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Luys Milan: Fantasia No. 16 for Guitar
Pepe Romero, guitar
92nd Street Y, New York City
Jacob van Eyck: The English Nightingale, from the Flute's Garden of Delights
Michala Petri, recorder
Copenhagen Concert Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark
Francois Couperin: L'Et Caetera Ou Menuets, from Concerto No. 9 (Portrait of Love)
Peter Sykes, harpsichord, Carol Ou, cello, Fenwick Smith, flute
Jordan Hall, Boston
The Piano Puzzler: This week's contestant is Matthew Gurewitsch from Kihei, Hawaii
Richard Strauss: Oboe Concerto in D
Albrecht Mayer, oboe, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Carnegie Hall, New York City
Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich steh mit einem Fuss im Grabe (I Stand with one Foot in the Grave), BWV 156
Albrecht Mayer, oboe, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Carnegie Hall, New York City
Hour 2
Carl Nielsen: Second movement from Symphony No. 2
The San Francisco Symphony, Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Karol Szymanowski: Mazurka
Marc-Andre Hamelin, piano
Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
Anonymous (Arranged by Milos Valent): Chorea Hungarica, from Pestry Zbornik (Tabulatura Miscellanea)
Solamente Naturali
Boston Early Music Festival, Boston
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C, K. 551 (Jupiter)
The San Francisco Symphony, Jeffrey Kahane, conductor
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
Alexander Scriabin: Poeme No. 1 in F-sharp, Op. 32
Yuja Wang, piano
Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth, Texas
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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.
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