Beethoven was 17 when he began work on what would become his first major orchestral piece, his Piano Concerto in B-flat. When he was 21, he took it along when he moved to the big city of Vienna. He kept working on it, and, four years later, he played the concerto at his official coming-out party - his public debut as a pianist in Vienna. On Tuesday's Performance Today we'll hear the first piano concerto Beethoven started, but not the first one he finished.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Frederic Chopin: Nocturne in A-flat, Opus 32, No. 2
Maurizio Pollini, piano
Franz Liszt /Felix Mendelssohn: Variations on Wedding March
Arcadi Volodos, piano
Carnegie Hall, New York City, NY
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Fragments in Ab Major, Op. Post
Arcadi Volodos, piano
Carnegie Hall, New York City, NY
Edward Elgar: La Capricieuse
Nai-Yuan Hu, violin; Alain Jacquon, piano
Newport Music Festival, Newport, RI
Henryk Wieniawski: Capriccio-Valse
Nai-Yuan Hu, violin; Alain Jacquon, piano
Newport Music Festival, Newport, RI
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb, Op. 19
Maurizio Pollini, piano; Berlin Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado, conductor
Hour 2
Johann Sebastian Bach: Suite in E minor, BWV 996 - II. Allemande, III. Courante
Jason Vieaux, guitar
Gustav Holst: St. Paul's Suite for String Orchestra, Op. 29, No. 2
Angel Fire Strings
Taos Center for the Arts, Taos, NM
PT Young Artist-in-Residence: Jordan Dodson, Guitar
Giulio Regondi: Notturno, Op. 19 "Reverie"
Jordan Dodson, guitar
Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio , St. Paul, MN
Ludwig Maurer: Five Pieces
American Brass Quintet
St. Paul's by the Sea Episcopal Church, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Will Gregory: High Life
Ancia Saxophone Quartet: Mathew Sintchak, soprano saxophone; Joan Hutton, alto saxophone; David Milne, tenor saxophone; Angela Wyatt, baritone saxophone
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN
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About Performance Today®
To find a station near you on our Stations Listings page, click here.
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.
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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