Performance Today®

It's hard to think of two more opposite characters in classical music than Dmitri Shostakovich and Martha Argerich. Argerich, the idiosyncratic free spirit, who says what she thinks and does what she wants. And Shostakovich, whose career and even his life depended on him toeing the Soviet party line. These opposites team up in today's show, as Martha Argerich performs Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto from the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

It was a marathon event, a chamber music concert that lasted almost 12 hours. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the Young Concert Artists organization, a group devoted to launching the careers of outstanding young musicians. We'll hear highlights from that super-sized concert that featured nearly 100 past and present YCA artists. Plus, Michael Tilson Thomas leads the San Francisco Symphony in Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, the Eroica.

Like many working mothers, Clara Schumann worried about her children when she wasn't there. "Give my little ones, for whom I yearn so much, 1000 kisses," she wrote while away on concert tour. Clara Schumann was one of the top pianists of her day, a much sought-after concert artist. She was also the family breadwinner during her husband Robert's long battle with mental illness. In today's show, a piano concerto by Clara Schumann, in honor of Mother's Day.

Like many working mothers, Clara Schumann worried about her children when she wasn't there. "Give my little ones, for whom I yearn so much, 1000 kisses," she wrote while away on concert tour. Clara Schumann was one of the top pianists of her day, a much sought-after concert artist. She was also the family breadwinner during her husband Robert's long battle with mental illness. In today's show, a piano concerto by Clara Schumann, in honor of Mother's Day.

Author Donna Leon joined PT host Fred Child recently to talk about her latest book, "Handel's Bestiary." It's an overview of all the animals that appear in arias from Handel's many operas. In today's show, we'll hear three of those bestial portraits: the tiger, the bee, and the moth. Plus, we have special music in honor of today's big Mexican holiday, Cinco de Mayo.

All this week on PT, we've been observing Critters Week: music about and inspired by animals. There's no fur in today's show, but an ample supply of feathers and fins. Pianist Mitsuko Uchida and friends perform Schubert's Trout Quintet from the Marlboro Music Festival. The work got its name from a tune Schubert used in the final movement: a song about a happy trout, splashing in a stream.

The Tokyo String Quartet, perhaps surprisingly, has never been based in Tokyo, or even in Japan. Even so, they maintain close ties to Japan. So after this spring's devastating earthquake and tsunami, the members of the Tokyo String Quartet were quick to arrange a benefit concert. We'll hear highlights in today's show, including Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, in its original version for string quartet.

When a friend suggested that cellist Alisa Weilerstein perform Elgar's Cello Concerto with conductor Daniel Barenboim, her initial reaction was an overwhelming "NO." In today's show, find out what Weilerstein's reluctance was all about, and the performance that eventually came from her overcoming it: cellist Alisa Weilerstein, conductor Daniel Barenboim, and the Berlin Philharmonic, performing the Elgar Cello Concerto in Oxford, England. Plus, music from Britain's royal wedding last Friday.

One year ago this weekend, Nashville was hit with a devastating flood. The Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the Nashville Symphony's home, took on 24 feet of murky river water. The hall was closed for 8 months, undergoing $42 million in repairs. On this first anniversary of the floods, we'll revisit a special concert in honor of the re-opening of the Schermerhorn last January.