Performance Today®

Composer Gillian Whitehead was beginning to write a new piece when she got heartbreaking news: a dear friend of hers had cancer...and it quickly took her friend's life. On today's show, music dedicated to a dear friend: "No Stars, Not Even Clouds" by Gillian Whitehead.

The pink plastic flamingo... maybe you had one in the yard of your childhood home or you've seen the plastic birds flocking your neighbor's lawn. Composer Michael Daugherty says those pink plastic lawn ornaments are American icons. On today's show, hear Daugherty's musical ode to flamingos, plastic and feathered, from a concert in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 1922, Maurice Ravel premiered a duo, his Sonata for Violin and Cello, and it marked a turning point in his development as a composer. Ravel described the sonata as "music stripped to the bone" yet it is surprisingly complex. On today's show, hear Amy Schwartz Moretti and Yegor Dyachov perform Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello, from a concert in Seattle.

Despite her husband's name-recognition, Clara Schumann was the breadwinner of the household. She was a formidable pianist and a prolific composer. On today's show, we're throwing Clara a much deserved birthday party in celebration of Clara Schumann's 200th birthday!

In 1922, Maurice Ravel premiered a piece for violin and cello. It is so dense and challenging that a musicologist of the time suggested that Ravel rearrange it for orchestra, spreading the notes out across many instruments rather than two. On today's show, hear Amy Schwartz Moretti and Yegor Dyachov perform Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello, from a concert in Seattle.

American pianist Jonathan Biss plays a wide range of music, but something about Beethoven always pulls him back in. On today's show, Jonathan Biss pours his own passion into Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, with the Houston Symphony.

Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia had a tyrannical father who punished her for playing music. Her life didn't get any easier when her father died, but music remained her secret source of comfort. On today's show, hear the Flute Sonata in F Major by Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia.

A few years ago, American composer Rick Sowash set a poem by Elizabeth Coatsworth to music, creating a song. And then he turned that song into a musical conversation between flute and cello. On today's show, hear the Sylvan Trio perform the end result: Seasonal Breezes, by Rick Sowash.

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3 is usually played by about a hundred musicians. Recently, the Windham Festival focused on the intimacy of Mahler's third, with a small orchestra of only about 35 players. On this episode of Performance Today, hear a MUCH different take on Mahler than we usually hear.