American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.
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.
Anyone interested in learning the rules of harmony, how notes and chords fit together, need look no further than the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He invented most of those rules. So maybe it's only natural that one of the early rule-breakers was one of his own children, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. C.P.E. Bach respected his father, but took his own music off in several new directions. In today's show, a couple of works by C.P.E. Bach, from a recent concert in London.
Today, we continue our series on how musicians practice. PT host Fred Child interviews violinist Gil Shaham, who describes himself as undisciplined about his daily practice routine. Somehow, the lack of discipline hasn't hampered Shaham, who remains one of the world's greatest violinists. He performs the Khachaturian Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The spring and summer music festival season is fast approaching. PT will be visiting a number of them in the coming months, and featuring great festival performances on the show. In today's show, we'll hear a Faure Piano Quartet, from a great performance at last year's Spoleto Festival USA, held every May and June in Charleston, South Carolina.
St. Patrick is credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland. There are no snakes in today's show, either. And we'll gladly give St. Patrick credit for that. What we do have is great Irish music, and great classical music performed in concert by Irish musicians. All in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
A couple of musical protesters are in today's show. Hungarian conductor Adam Fischer recently resigned his post as conductor of the Hungarian State Opera in protest of new government media laws. The full story is in the show, plus a performance by Fischer and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra. And a performance of Haydn's Farewell Symphony, written as a protest to Haydn's boss, on behalf of a bunch of musicians who just wanted to go home.
Today, we continue our series on how musicians practice. PT host Fred Child interviews violinist Gil Shaham, who describes himself as undisciplined about his daily practice routine. Somehow, the lack of discipline hasn't hampered Shaham, who remains one of the world's greatest violinists. He performs the Khachaturian Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The King's Singers recently joined host Fred Child in our PT studios for a special hour of music and conversation. Long-time bass Stephen Connolly describes the tight-knit group as "six voices trying to sing as one." The legendary vocal ensemble from London did just that, entertaining a small studio audience with a half dozen songs, including their signature piece, "You are the New Day."
Thirty years ago, violinist Daniel Hope was called on the carpet for a serious offense at his music school: unauthorized practicing of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. His teachers said he wasn't ready. Hope says he just couldn't help himself. Those dazzling melodies and dizzying runs: who wouldn't ache to be able to play that? These days, Hope is authorized to play whatever he wants. He'll play his childhood dream piece, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
