Performance Today®

Like a neutron star, New York's Lincoln Center is hot, bright, and densely packed. Eleven different arts organizations call it home, including the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, and the Juilliard School. There's more raw talent per square inch than just about any other place on earth. Today, we'll hear two stellar performances presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, works by Beethoven and Dvorak.

Carter Pann's Mercury Concerto is a celebration of love and friendship. Friendship between composer Pann and flutist Christina Jennings, who premiered the piece. And love between Jennings and her husband, violist Matthew Dane. In today's show, we'll hear the world premiere of Pann's Mercury Concerto, a showcase for the flute, with a few shining moments for the viola as well.

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone to try to guess the tune, and the composer Bruce is mimicking. Is it "Stand by Your Man" in the style of Tchaikovsky? Or maybe "Do Re Mi" in the style of Arnold Schoenberg? Play along, see if you can guess the tune and the composer in this week's Piano Puzzler.

Daniel Barenboim is a full-time pianist. And a full-time conductor. If you think that adds up to too much, Barenboim is quick to disagree. In fact, he wants to keep up the frenetic pace. He says, "I pray every day that I will not get comfortable in my old age." In today's show, we'll hear Barenboim the pianist and Barenboim the conductor, from concerts in Vienna and Essen, Germany.

Today on PT, special music in honor of a few of our Commanders-in-Chief. We'll hear a performance of Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" by the U.S. Marine Corps Band (also known as the President's Own). And Essential Voices USA performs a song cycle that incorporates words by George Washington, Woodrow Wilson, and our 44th and current president, Barack Obama.

If it were a Hollywood movie from the 1940s, the plot would read something like, "Hero and heroine unjustly kept apart. Years pass. Hardship ensues. At long last, hero and heroine are reunited." Today's show isn't a Hollywood movie, but it does feature music by Erich Korngold, who wrote for Hollywood films in the 1940s. And we'll hear the story of a priceless Guarneri violin that got to play Korngold's Violin Concerto, after being kept away from it for a half century.

Pianist Emanuel Ax is endearingly humble. He downplays his own abilities and goes out of his way to shine the spotlight on others. It's charming, but don't believe a word of it. Ax is a national treasure, one of the finest pianists around today. In today's show, he teams up with the Spanish National Orchestra and plays the "Emperor" concerto by Beethoven.

Cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han started out as musical colleagues. They fell in love with each other's playing. And it didn't take long before they fell in love with each other. Finckel describes their musical chemistry this way, "For us, it was like that right from the start. And I think that was one of the things that just sent up a signal to us that we were meant to be together somehow, in more ways than one." The husband-and-wife team of David Finckel and Wu Han are in the PT studios today, sharing music and conversation with host Fred Child.

Cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han talk about musical chemistry with host Fred Child in the PT studio.