Poster black and white portrait of man
Richard Strauss, ca. 1888
WikiMedia Commons
Performance Today®

PT Weekend: A Strauss masterpiece

Richard Strauss was aiming, not just for our greatest hopes and fears, but for the meaning of life when he wrote one of his most monumental pieces. On today's show, we'll take you to a concert in Cincinnati to hear Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week’s Piano Puzzler!

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Jean Sibelius: Andante Festivo
Sphinx Virtuosi | Damon Gupton, conductor
Album: Sphinx Virtuosi Live in Concert
White Pine Music 227

Carlos Simon: Between Worlds
Hannah White, violin
Sphinx Virtuosi, Lillian & Robert Utsey Chamber Music Series, Brooks Center for the Performing Arts, Clemson University, Clemson, SC

Piano Puzzler
Janie and Andrew Wittenberg calling from Cincinnati, OH

Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklarung (Death and Transfiguration), Op. 24
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra | Louis Langree, conductor
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Music Hall, Cincinnati, OH

Hour 2

Charles Gounod: Romeo and Juliet: L'amour, l'amour! ... Ah! leve-toi, soleil!
Vittorio Grigolo, tenor | RAI National Symphony Orchestra | Eveline Pido, conductor
Album: The Romantic Hero
Sony 75658

David Baker: Roots II
Eliot Heaton, violin | Max Geissler, cello | Michelle Cann, piano
Geneva Music Festival, Froelich Hall, Gearan Center for the Performing Arts, Hobart & William Smith College, Geneva, NY

Frederic Chopin: Scherzo No. 4 Op. 54 in E major
Yekwon Sunwoo, piano
Close Encounters with Music, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA

Charles Gounod: Romeo and Juliet: Ballet Music: Danse Bohemienne
Orchestra of Toulouse | Michel Plasson, conductor
Album: Gounod: Romeo Et Juliette
EMI

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About Performance Today®

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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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