Performance Today®

The tango is a slow and sultry dance. A couple locked in a close embrace, snaking their way around the dance floor. But the tango isn't for the faint of heart. It can be rough, even a bit coarse. Quartet San Francisco delivers a proper tango in today's show: smooth on the outside, crunchy on the inside. "Tango Toscana" was written by quartet founder Jeremy Cohen. Plus, pianist Francesco Tristano Schlime gives us a tango from an unexpected source: Igor Stravinsky. And the Cleveland Orchestra performs music from Stravinsky's ballet, "Pulcinella."

It all started in 1862 when a small but determined Mexican army defeated a French force twice its size. It's since gone on to become an international celebration of Mexican history and culture. It's Cinco de Mayo, and we're celebrating today. Performances of Mexican music, Mexican conductors, and a Mexican orchestra are on the show today. Plus, Bruce Adolphe drops by for a new Piano Puzzler.

Johannes Brahms was madly in love with Clara Schumann. But Clara was in love with her husband, composer Robert Schumann. Brahms wrote to her, "I can do nothing but think of you. What have you done to me? Can't you remove the spell you have cast over me?" Brahms also poured out his anguish in a piano quartet. He subtitled it "Werther," after a fictional character who takes his own life over an unrequited love for his best friend's wife. The "Werther" quartet is in hour one, from a concert in Boston.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt played cello in the Vienna Symphony in the 1950s and 60s. But he was so unhappy with the way conductors told him to play Mozart symphonies, he quit the orchestra and became a conductor himself. Instead of being gentle and elegant, he felt Mozart's work should be fiery and passionate, witty and emotional. Harnoncourt joins host Fred Child to talk about his approach, and we'll go to Amsterdam to hear Harnoncourt lead the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a fiery and emotional performance of Mozart's Symphony No. 35, the Haffner Symphony.

Some pianists approach Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto as something to be conquered by force. They make it sound every bit as difficult as it is. But Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes overcomes all those technical difficulties and gets to the heart of the piece like few others can. We'll hear a performance by Andsnes and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Bergen, Norway.

Christoph Eschenbach is a 70 year-old conductor, originally from Germany. Lang Lang is a 27 year-old pianist, originally from China. For the last decade, Eschenbach and Lang Lang have shared a close musical friendship. Eschenbach says it's eerie, almost telepathic, how they sense each other's musical ideas. They just wrapped up an American tour with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. From a concert two weeks ago in San Diego, we'll hear their elegant performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17.

The legendary early music vocal quartet Anonymous 4 joins Fred Child to talk about the simple, penetrating beauty of music from the Huelgas Codex, a 13th century manuscript discovered in a Spanish convent. Anonymous 4 talks about the remarkable history of this unique document, and sings highlights from the music. We'll also compare Tchaikovsky's bluebird melody from "Sleeping Beauty" with a real bluebird song, and hear Tchaikovsky's bird call from a concert in Bergen, Norway.

Every Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child and a PT listener for our Piano Puzzler. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer, and plays his creation on the PT piano. Our listener tries to guess the hidden tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. Play along in hour 1 of today's show! And in hour 2, enjoy a great young American ensemble, the Escher Quartet, playing Beethoven's String Quartet No. 8.

Some pianists approach Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto as something to be conquered by force. They make it sound every bit as difficult as it is. But Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes overcomes all those technical difficulties and gets to the heart of the piece like few others can. We'll hear a performance by Andsnes and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Bergen, Norway.