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Performance Today®

From the Sweet to the Sinister

In today's show, two stories of inspiration - one sweet, one sinister. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma appeared on Sesame Street in the late 1980s, expertly accompanied by a trio of honkers and dingers. Three-year-old Matthew Zalkind was watching, and fell in love with the cello right then and there. Now all grown up, he plays a Faure trio at Marlboro. And Igor Stravinsky's frightening run-in with a gang of Nazi thugs in 1932 fueled the dark emotions of his Symphony in Three Movements. We'll hear a performance by the New York Philharmonic.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Samuel Barber: Canzone for Flute and Piano, Op. 38a
Jeanne Baxtresser, flute, Israela Margalit, piano

Antonio Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerto No. 7 in A Minor, RV 497
Christian Kunert, bassoon, the Potsdam Chamber Academy
Movimentos Festival, Wolfsburg, Germany

Claude Debussy: Children's Corner
The Calefax Reed Quintet
Falany Performing Arts Center, Waleska, Georgia

Claude Debussy: The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, from Preludes, Book 1
Christopher O'Riley, piano

Samuel Barber: Dover Beach, Op. 3
Nathaniel Webster, baritone, Elena Urioste and Benjamin Beilman, violins, Helene Clement, viola, Marcy Rosen, cello
Marlboro Music Festival, Marlboro, Vermont

Samuel Barber: First Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12
The New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, conductor
Avery Fisher Hall, New York City

Hour 2

Igor Stravinsky: Second movement from Concerto in E-flat (Dumbarton Oaks)
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood, conductor

Anonymous: Basse Danse Jouissance Vous Donnerai (I will Give you Pleasure)
The Toronto Consort, David Fallis, artistic director
Town Hall, Seattle

Gabriel Faure: Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 120
Gabriele Carcano, piano, Scott St. John, violin, Matthew Zalkind, cello
Marlboro Music Festival, Marlboro, Vermont

Igor Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
The New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, conductor
Avery Fisher Hall, New York City

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Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

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