On Friday's Performance Today, we're exploring music inspired by bird song. First, we'll head to this summer's BBC Proms in London to hear Maurice Ravel's imitation of a sad blackbird. Then, we'll hear the sounds of doves, hens, nightingales and cuckoos from a concert in Los Angeles.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor - I. Allegro Adagio
Mikhail Pletnev, piano
CPE Bach: Sonatas & Rondos
DG 459614
Antonin Dvorak: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81, B. 155: 3. Scherzo (Furiant): Molto vivace; 4. Finale: Allegro
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano; Benjamin Beilman, Alexander Sitkovetsky, violins; Paul Neubauer, viola; Narek Hakhnazaryan, cello
Music@Menlo, The Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton, Menlo Park, CA
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Concerto for Fortepiano and Harpsichord in E-flat Major: 1. Allegro molto 2. Larghetto 3. Presto
Robert Levin, harpsichord; Ya-Fei Chuang, fortepiano; Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Nicholas McGegan, conductor
First Congregational Church, Berkeley, CA
Francesco Geminiani: Concerto Grosso 'La follia'
B'Rock - Baroque Orchestra Ghent; Dmitry Sinkovsky, solo violin and conductor
BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall, London, England
Hour 2
Maurice Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales: 8. Epilogue: Lent
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; Yannick Nezet-Seguin, conductor
Ravel: Ballet and Dance Music
EMI Classics 66342
Peter Tchaikovsky: Valse-Scherzo, Op. 34
Andrey Baranov, violin; Swiss Italian Orchestra; Alexander Vedernikov, conductor
Martha Argerich Project, Congress Palace, Lugano, Switzerland
Osvaldo Golijov: Night of the Flying Horses
The Knights; Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Maurice Ravel: Oiseaux tristes, "Sad birds"
Marius Van Paassen, piano
The Animal In The 20th Century Piano Music
Attacca Babel 8950
Maurice Ravel (arr. Colin Matthews): Oiseaux tristes
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Nicholas Collon, conductor
BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, England
Ottorino Respighi: Gli Uccelli (The Birds): Movements 1-5
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Jeffrey Kahane, music director
Royce Hall, Westwood, CA
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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.
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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