Performance Today®

Gustav Mahler's massive Fifth Symphony rages on for over an hour. But in the middle of that storm, there's a 10-minute oasis of calm. The Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth has been used for everything from funerals for heads of state to Olympic skating routines. Most people hear it as an outpouring of grief, but some say there's much more to it than that. In today's show, the story behind Mahler's Adagietto and a performance from the Aspen Music Festival.

On July 12, 1941 conductor Lorin Maazel led the NBC Summer Symphony in a concert that was broadcast live from coast to coast. He was 11 years old. Among the pieces he led on that 1941 live national broadcast was the Symphony No. 40, the great G-minor Symphony by Mozart. The very same Lorin Maazel just turned 82. And last month, he led another live national broadcast... of that very same piece, the Symphony No. 40, by Mozart. We'll hear this Mozart Symphony, the second time around, on today's Performance Today.

It's music from the early 1600s played with a contemporary feel. The members of the early music ensemble L'Arpeggiata like to sound old and new at the same time. On Tuesday's Performance Today we'll hear the rest of their unique concert two weeks ago at Carnegie Hall in New York with music for Holy Week combining early Italian motets and Corsican folk songs with improvisation influenced by everything in between.

This music is old and new, at the same time. On today's show we'll hear a group from Paris called L'Arpeggiata. They play music from the 1600s and 1700s, but much of what they do is improvise around those pieces from hundreds of years ago. Listen to Monday's Performance Today for L'Arpeggiata from a gorgeous concert earlier this month at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

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.