Performance Today®

Pianist Menahem Pressler has been called a "national treasure" for his flawless and sensitive playing. But there are other reasons to admire him, too. At age 88, he radiates youthful joy and love, both in conversation and in his playing. Today, we'll get a chance to hear both. Pressler recently joined PT host Fred Child for an interview in our studios. And we'll hear his recent performance of a Mozart concerto in Sweden.

Cellist David Finckel has been a member of the Emerson Quartet since 1979. Last month, he said he's leaving the quartet at the end of next season. Before he goes, we'll hear a great performance on today's show from the Emersons, with David Finckel, playing Dvorak's American Quartet, in concert at the Savannah Music Festival.

Pianist Menahem Pressler has been called a "national treasure" for his flawless and sensitive playing. But there are other reasons to admire him, too. At age 88, he radiates youthful joy and love, both in conversation and in his playing. Today, we'll get a chance to hear both. Pressler recently joined PT host Fred Child for an interview in our studios. And we'll hear his recent performance of a Mozart concerto in Sweden.

The 2012 Savannah Music Festival is underway in one of this country's most beautiful cities - Savannah, Georgia. PT host Fred Child will be there this weekend, hosting several live on-stage events with some of the festival's all-star guests. In today's show, we'll revisit a couple of great Savannah performances from past festivals, including mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile and the Assad Brothers Guitar Duo.

If Gustavo Dudamel was running on fumes the night he and the Los Angeles Philharmonic played Beethoven's Seventh Symphony in London, no one could tell. He and the L.A. Phil had stayed up late the night before, celebrating his 30th birthday. And they went on to deliver a dynamite performance of the Beethoven. One critic called it "electrifying, impossible not to be swept away." We'll hear that post-birthday performance from London in today's show.

Can a European orchestra get its groove on? Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story can sometimes pose a difficult challenge to ensembles not used to the Latin rhythms of his song "Mambo," or the swing rhythms of "Cool." But the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra does a pretty darn good job. Today we'll hear them capture the grit, swing and groove of the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story on Performance Today.

Composer Aaron Copland was a city slicker from Brooklyn, New York. And yet he instinctively knew how to capture the sound of the great open spaces of the American West. Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony play highlights from Copland's cowboy ballet, Billy the Kid, in a special gala concert in honor of the orchestra's 100th anniversary.

Pianist Imogen Cooper calls Beethoven's "Tempest" Sonata "a deeply disturbing work." From the enigmatic opening bars where Beethoven draws us into a mysterious world, to the ambiguous ending, he takes us through a whole range of conflicting emotions. Cooper confesses that playing this piece sometimes leaves her feeling shaken. Today she joins host Fred Child in the PT studios for conversation and a performance of Beethoven's "Tempest" Sonata.

In today's show, a performance from Music City - Nashville, Tennessee. Pianist Kirill Gerstein plays a Rachmaninoff concerto with the Nashville Symphony. And the story of trombonist Jeremy Wilson, who's resigning his chair in the Vienna Philharmonic to return to his roots in Tennessee. He'll teach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. We'll hear the Vienna Philharmonic in Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony.