Physics can make it tough to play an organ with an orchestra. If the organ pipes are 200 feet from the conductor, it can take their sound a quarter second to cover that distance; enough to potentially disrupt a performance. On Monday's Performance Today, the New York Philharmonic tackles the physics of Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony in concert in New York.
Every week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. Play along on this weekend's Performance Today; see if you can guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking.
Mozart wrote hundreds of pieces that are delightful and charming, but several dozen of his works are so expressive, so riveting, that they're masterpieces. On Friday's Performance Today we'll hear one such masterpiece: Mozart's Symphony No. 39.
CPE Bach's music is characterized by sheer exuberance, wild creativity, and emotional depth. There are sudden stops for contemplation, followed by a quick returns to the happy roller coaster ride. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear an example of CPE Bach's unique sound from a concert in Oslo, Norway.
On Wednesday's Performance Today, we have a full hour of concert highlights from Carnegie Hall in New York. Plus, Bruce Adolphe joins us for our weekly musical game - the Piano Puzzler.
The Pittsburgh Symphony flew their 95 musicians and all their gear to Berlin. And moments after they got off the plane, they jumped onstage to play the opening concert of a major festival. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear the Pittsburgh Symphony give a stirring performance from that very concert.
On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear the story of two young lovers, Daphnis and Chloe, told in music by Maurice Ravel and played in concert in Hamburg, Germany. Plus, a software engineer who is an amateur pianist (in the best sense of the word) plays a concerto by Rachmaninoff in concert in Hickory, North Carolina.
On this weekend's Performance Today, pianist Emanuel Ax joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic for a dramatic performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week's Piano Puzzler.
Composer Anton Brucker was a devout Catholic, but conductor Franz Welser-Most says that we shouldn't make too much of this fact. A Bruckner symphony is not, after all, "a misunderstood church service." On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear Welser-Most and the Vienna Philharmonic play Bruckner's Symphony No. 6 at Carnegie Hall.
