Performance Today®

A Requiem is often a prayer for the souls of the dead. But in his German Requiem, Johannes Brahms chose words from the Gospel of Matthew that offer comfort to the living in the face of death. "Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted." On Thursday's Performance Today, music of survivors in a performance of Brahms' Requiem by the Dresden Staatskapelle in concert last month in Dresden, Germany.

On today's program, PT remembers American composer Lee Hoiby who died on Monday at age 85. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of a used-car salesman. We'll also feature the music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who reveled in breaking his father Johann Sebastian Bach's musical rules.

Ask any New York City police officer how you get to Carnegie Hall and they'll tell you: "Practice, man. Practice." On today's show, timpanist Jonathan Haas takes us inside his practice studio to demonstrate how to get a full, round tone without annoying the neighbors. We'll hear him perform a concerto for timpani by Georg Druschetzky and music from the first English folk revival, Delius' Brigg Fair.

He was an obscure dead composer, but Mozart loved his work. He even arranged some of the old guy's keyboard pieces for string quartet. In today's show, the Orion String Quartet performs some of those curious Mozart arrangements. And that nearly-forgotten composer? That would be Johann Sebastian Bach. Plus, highlights from an Alan Hovhaness centennial concert in Berkeley, California.

In today's show, three compelling stories of musicians returning to performing after illness or injury. We'll hear from the young violinist Augustin Hadelich, severely burned in a fire when he was a teenager. Leon Fleisher spent decades as a left-hand only pianist, after losing the use of his right hand. After intensive therapy, he's now playing with both hands. And cellist Truls Mork is back after a mysterious illness sidelined him for a year and a half.

Whatever the enigma is behind Edward Elgar's "Enigma Variations" - and we've had theories posited on Performance Today - it's still magnificent music, a grand showcase for an outstanding orchestra. Peter Oundjian will lead one, the Toronto Symphony, at a concert in Toronto.

In today's show, a glimpse into the lives of two great classical musicians, and how they prepare for a big concerto. Recently, host Fred Child visited violinist Gil Shaham and heard him practicing for an upcoming performance of the Walton Violin Concerto. We'll hear that performance, from a concert in Berlin. And pianist Emanuel Ax confessed that when he plays a big concerto, he's "just trying to get on the stage without tripping, and trying to get through the piece without being too, too scared." Ax gives a terrific performance of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto in San Francisco.

In today's show, three compelling stories of musicians returning to performing after illness or injury. We'll hear from the young violinist Augustin Hadelich, severely burned in a fire when he was a teenager. Leon Fleisher spent decades as a left-hand only pianist, after losing the use of his right hand. After intensive therapy, he's now playing with both hands. And cellist Truls Mork is back after a mysterious illness sidelined him for a year and a half.

In response to the recent tragedy in Japan, many classical musicians around the world are organizing fundraising efforts. We'll feature one of the first, the members of the Berlin Philharmonic in a benefit concert just three nights ago. Plus, we continue our series on the art of practicing. This week, Philadelphia bassoonist Daniel Matsukawa shares one of his practicing strategies: always play at least one melody a day.