Performance Today®

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.

On Thursday's Performance Today, master pianist Maurizio Pollini joins the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverein in Vienna for a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12.

How does pianist Emanuel Ax feel at a big concert? We'll find out on Wednesday's Performance Today, plus we'll hear Emanuel Ax play Beethoven in concert in Los Angeles.

On Tuesday's Performance Today, pianist Mitsuko Uchida plays a quietly dramatic piano concerto by Mozart in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring is piece about the Appalachian Mountains. Or is it? We'll find out more on Monday's Performance Today.

Each week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We then get one of our listeners on the phone to try to guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with our Piano Puzzler, on this weekend's Performance Today.

Earlier this year, American composer John Luther Adams won the Pulitzer Prize for his epic musical fable, "Become Ocean." Recently, Fred spoke with Adams about this piece; we'll hear that conversation and a performance of "Become Ocean" on Friday's Performance Today.

Composer John Luther Adams won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for his composition, Become Ocean. The Seattle Symphony has just released a recording of its performance of the piece.