Performance Today®

If your critics are accusing you of writing extravagant, self-indulgent music, maybe the best response isn't to write an over-the-top work called A Hero's Life, casting yourself as the hero. And when folks question you about it, maybe you shouldn't compare yourself with Napoleon and Alexander in your defense. But then, maybe you're not Richard Strauss, who did exactly that. Was he for real, or was it all a big joke? The story in today's show, and a performance by the Cleveland Orchestra.

This week, we welcome all our new listeners in Houston. PT is now being carried by Classical 91.7 in Houston. In today's show, we'll feature great performances by Hans Graf and the Houston Symphony and Da Camera of Houston, representing just a part of the vibrant arts scene in the nation's fourth-largest city.

Yesterday we heard Beethoven's First Symphony. Today we'll hear its younger brother, the Second, written just two years later. It's a sunny, cheerful work. But it was born amidst the anguish Beethoven was experiencing over his increasing deafness. Plus, two real-life musical siblings: Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff and the Tetzlaff Quartet, in concert in California.

When Beethoven's First Symphony premiered in Vienna in 1800, some listeners were shocked. It was so odd, so dissonant. They had no idea what they were in for with this guy. Beethoven would go on to revolutionize the form over the course of his nine symphonies. In today's show, we'll hear how it all began. Beethoven's First Symphony, from a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic.

This week, we welcome all our new listeners in Houston. PT is now being carried by KUHA in Houston. In today's show, we'll feature great performances by Hans Graf and the Houston Symphony and Da Camera of Houston, representing just a part of the vibrant arts scene in the nation's fourth-largest city.

Yesterday, we brought you Part I of Mahler's 8th Symphony, known as the Symphony of a Thousand. Today is the conclusion. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas leads the massed forces of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Pacific Boychoir, and the San Francisco Girls Chorus. MTT calls the work an "allegory of the distressed soul finding its way through trials to...blessedness."

Gustav Mahler's monumental Symphony Number 8 (the Symphony of a Thousand) is ambitious in almost every way. Not just its size (intended for an amassed orchestra and chorus of 1,000 people), but in its emotional and intellectual content. Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony have just completed a massive recording project, recording all of the Mahler symphonies. MTT and San Francisco perform part one of the Symphony of a Thousand in today's show. Look for part two tomorrow.

It's an ancient, simple story of boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy loses girl when she is abducted by pirates. Boy gets girl back, thanks to the intervention of a deity who is half-man and half-goat. OK, maybe the story of Daphnis and Chloe isn't so simple after all. But boy and girl live happily ever after in Maurice Ravel's ravishing, shimmering coming-of-age love story. The Montreal Symphony plays Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2, from a concert in Montreal.

Rococo art and music are often criticized as being a little fussy and overly decorative. All frosting and no cake. But Peter Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme not only has plenty of cake, there are also vegetables and a side of beef lurking under there too. Cellist Alisa Weilerstein serves up this hearty fare, from a concert with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York.