Performance Today®

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at age 17 was already nearly halfway through his life. Sergei Prokofiev at age 30 was also at about the halfway mark. Both were brash young men, risk-takers, convinced of their own greatness, perhaps even of their own immortality. In today's show, concertos by the 17-year-old Mozart and the 30-year-old Prokofiev, in great performances by violinist Steven Copes and pianist Yefim Bronfman.

Cellist Wendy Warner and pianist Irina Nuzova join host Fred Child in the PT studios for conversation and music. Russian music, in particular. The duo has a new CD out featuring Russian cello music. Warner and Nuzova talk about what makes these pieces so special, and about the musical chemistry they felt the first time they played together.

The story of Daphnis and Chloe goes back about 2000 years. He's a young goatherd, she's a young shepherdess. They know nothing about love, but they manage to learn a thing or two along the way. In 1912, Maurice Ravel wrote a ballet, setting this coming-of-age love story to music that's astonishing, ravishing. Nowadays, you're more likely to hear Daphnis and Chloe in a concert hall than at the ballet. In today's show, we'll hear a performance by the Radio France Philharmonic.

Vienna's Musikverein is one of those spectacular old European concert halls. The walls and ceilings shimmer with real gold. And the acoustics are every bit as magnificent as the decor. Up until recently, pianist Lang Lang had never played there. He finally got his chance, playing a solo recital that included Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata. It's in today's show. Plus, we'll hear a performance from the Musikverein from a special New Year's Day concert. Daniel Barenboim and the Vienna Philharmonic rattled those golden walls and ceilings with Johann Strauss, Jr.'s "Thunder and Lightning Polka."

If music for one orchestra is good, is music for two orchestras better? And what if we add a string quartet on top of that? Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote for this complex combination, and came up with one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of the 20th century. His Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, for two orchestras and string quartet, is in the show. Plus, a birthday tribute to the legendary tenor Placido Domingo, who turns 70 today.

From "The Chairman Dances," a surreal foxtrot by John Adams, to the rustic country dances that Bela Bartok was so fond of collecting, to an unusual marriage of Danish and Russian airs, we've got two hours of memorable dance music in today's show. Plus, Fritz Kreisler's naughty little secret: who actually wrote all those memorable little encores of his?

William Shakespeare's dramas have provided creative fodder for countless composers. Verdi's dramatic opera "Otello," Mendelssohn's gossamer incidental music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and Prokofiev's ballet "Romeo and Juliet," just to name a few. In today's show, two works of cross-pollination based on Shakespeare's plays: Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" Fantasy Overture, and Three Dramatic Scenes, by Jules Massenet.

Vienna's Musikverein is one of those spectacular old European concert halls. The walls and ceilings shimmer with real gold. And the acoustics are every bit as magnificent as the decor. Up until recently, pianist Lang Lang had never played there. He finally got his chance, playing a solo recital that included Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata. It's in today's show. Plus, we'll hear a performance from the Musikverein from a special New Year's Day concert. Daniel Barenboim and the Vienna Philharmonic rattled those golden walls and ceilings with Johann Strauss, Jr.'s "Thunder and Lightning Polka."

On this Martin Luther King Day, our entire show is devoted to a celebration of the life of Dr. King. Music was an important force in the civil rights movement, and important in the personal life of Dr. King as well. We'll hear performances from the annual King Celebration concert in his home town of Atlanta. We'll hear classical musicians talk about what King's legacy means to them. And the great American soprano Jessye Norman sings a traditional spiritual.