Performance Today®

Petrushka is a character who goes back hundreds of years... an aggressive court jester who is most happy when he's hurting someone. On today's show, Gustavo Dudamel leads the LA Philharmonic in a performance of Igor Stravinsky's Petrushka... a fun and scary puppet show where we don't really know who's pulling the strings.

Composer Peteris Vasks lived through the tumultuous history of the Soviet Union and the Baltics. He had to defeat pessimism in order to find and accept the beauty of our world. On today's show, we also say yes to beauty; hear the Lysander Piano Trio play music by Peteris Vasks at a concert in Morrow, Georgia.

Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich loved music and football, or as we call it, soccer. Dmitri Braginsky writes about it in his book: "Shostakovich and Football - Escape to Freedom." On today's show, Fred Child speaks with Braginsky about the sporty side of Dmitri Shostakovich, and we'll hear music from his Shostakovich's ballet about, yes, a soccer game.

On today's show, hear a piece by the great 20th century master of Argentine tango, Astor Piazzolla. The Anderson and Roe Piano Duo play a slow burn of a tango, Piazzolla's Oblivion, from a concert in Winona, Minnesota.

Composer Pierre Jalbert recently wrote a piece as a response to Beethoven's Symphony No. 4. But if listeners don't pick up on that connection, that's alright by Jalbert. He's more focused on other goals. On today's show, hear the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's world premiere performance of the Passage, by Pierre Jalbert.

Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich loved music and football, or as we call it, soccer. Dmitri Braginsky writes about it in his book: "Shostakovich and Football - Escape to Freedom." On today's show, Fred Child speaks with Braginsky about the sporty side of Dmitri Shostakovich, and we'll hear music from his Shostakovich's ballet about, yes, a soccer game.

Siblings Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn were both gifted composers and musicians. On this episode of Performance Today, hear Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 2, from a performance at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, NC. Then, in the second hour of today's show, hear a piano trio by Fanny Mendelssohn, from a concert in Bridgehampton, NY.

At the beginning of the new millennium, composer Jennifer Higdon wrote a piece based on the perception that everyone's individual drumbeat is accelerating, adding to the rhythm of our time. On today's show, the US Marine Band celebrates the rhythm and speed of life, with Fanfare Ritmico by Jennifer Higdon.

Writing music can be a tough job, especially when your opinions run counter to the government, you are under constant surveillance and threat of punishment. Composer Dmitri Shostakovich found one thing, across the span of decades, that took him away from that stress and brought him enjoyment: soccer. Musicologist Dmitri Braginsky has written a new book about Shostakovich's obsession with "the beautiful game."