Performance Today®

Times were desperate in the Soviet Union in 1944. World War II was raging. Millions died from injuries, disease, and starvation. And somehow, in spite of that (or perhaps because of it), Sergei Prokofiev managed to write a symphony that he dedicated "to the nobility of the human spirit." He later confessed that it surprised even him. He said, "I can't say I chose the music. It was born deep inside me, matured within me, and clamored for expression." Today, as much of the country struggles to recover from Hurricane Sandy, we'll hear Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic in a performance of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony, from a concert earlier this year.

When the 23-year-old Hector Berlioz saw a production of Shakespeare's Hamlet, he fell truly-madly-deeply in love with the actress who played Ophelia. He sent her passionate letters, which she ignored as the ravings of a crazed fan. So Berlioz wrote a bizarre symphony that told the story of their torrid (and completely imaginary) relationship, complete with betrayal, murder, and a descent into the underworld. For today's Halloween show, highlights from the Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz, from the 2012 Aspen Festival.

Perhaps no other instrument has as many facets as the guitar. It's part of nearly every culture and sub-culture in the world. John Dearman, one of the members of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, says that's the key to its success. He says, "The way to make classical guitar work is to exploit the diversity." John Dearman and the other members of the LAGQ will be in the PT studios today, following their own advice, exploiting the diversity of the guitar. We'll hear them in everything from 17th century Spain to modern-day jazz.

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet visits the PT studios.

The first musical instruments, back in the caveman days, were percussion instruments. Discarded bones, hollow logs covered with animal skins. A battery of noisemakers designed to instill fear in one's enemies and keep evil spirits at bay. Today, we'll meet a percussion instrument that would have fit right in in those early times, the lion's roar. Jerry Junkin and the Dallas Wind Symphony put the lion's roar to good use in a set of Renaissance dances. Plus, a couple of woodland sketches and one of the greatest musical sunrises ever, the opening of Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite.

The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is an amazing old concert hall. Beautiful, opulent, with great sight lines and spectacular acoustics. But up until a few decades ago, it was a hall with a dirty little secret. It was sinking into the surrounding mud. As the hall slowly settled into the ooze, the musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra happily, unknowingly fiddled away. In today's show, the story of how engineers rescued the hall from an untimely end. And we'll hear highlights from a recent concert at the Concertgebouw.

Fate. Is it a friend or an enemy? Easy answer, as far as Peter Tchaikovsky was concerned. He railed against fate, calling it "the force which prevents our hopes of happiness from being realized. It is invincible and you will never vanquish it. All we can do is subject ourselves and lament." OK, so Peter was depressed. He veered wildly between fate the friend and fate the enemy in his Fourth Symphony, with gorgeous melodies crashing into invincible, musical brick walls. Mikhail Pletnev leads the Russian National Orchestra in a riveting performance of Tchaikovsky's Fourth from Warsaw, Poland.

Two superb young violinists are in today's show. Hilary Hahn rose to stardom when she was just a teen-ager. Now in her early 30s, she made the sometimes uneasy transition from child phenom to adult star. She joins us today, along with pianist Orion Weiss, from the WQXR studios in New York. And we'll hear Augustin Hadelich in concert in Seattle. He made an arduous comeback to the violin after suffering devastating burns over 60% of his body.

Violinist Hilary Hahn performs in the studio with pianist Orion Weiss