Performance Today®

Johannes Brahms lived another twelve years after finishing his fourth and final symphony. Even so, conductor Simon Rattle hears a man facing his own mortality in the music. Rattle shares his insights into this monumental work, in the final installment of our look at the symphonies of Brahms. And he leads the Berlin Philharmonic in a live performance. We also note the passing of eminent American pianist Earl Wild, who died this past weekend at the age of 94.

In 1910, Gustav Mahler was 50 years old and working on his tenth symphony. And he was a man with a broken heart, both literally and figuratively. He was diagnosed with an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart. He was madly, passionately in love with his wife, Alma. And he discovered she was having an affair. That heartache couldn't help but find its way into his symphony. Today, Michael Tilson Thomas leads the San Francisco Symphony in excerpts from Mahler's tenth from San Francisco.

Violinist Rachel Podger was once told by her teacher that Baroque violin playing was only for those who can't play real violin. So she sneaked out and took Baroque violin lessons on the side. Podger has since become one of the great early music interpreters, and performs with London's Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in today's show. Podger is both soloist and conductor in a Haydn violin concerto.

Richard Strauss was the master of the tone poem, evocative music that tells the story of people and places and moods. In today's show, we'll hear two Strauss tone poems, one a love story, the other a dark comedy. The French National Orchestra and Daniele Gatti perform "Don Juan" and "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" in Paris. Plus, the Grammies are coming up on the 31st and we'll feature several Grammy-nominated recordings.

Years ago, there were few if any American orchestras that could measure up to those in Europe. Now, many of the finest bands in the world are from the states. The next orchestral frontier is in Asia, with several talented groups emerging. On today's show, the KBS Symphony Orchestra from Seoul, South Korea, plays Tchaikovsky's sixth symphony. Claus Peter Flor conducts.

Violinist Rachel Podger was once told by her teacher that Baroque violin playing was only for those who can't play real violin. So she sneaked out and took Baroque violin lessons on the side. Podger has since become one of the great early music interpreters, and performs with London's Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in today's show. Podger is both soloist and conductor in a Haydn violin concerto.

Ukrainian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk saw everything slip away in an instant seven years ago, when a car crash led to a month-long coma. Gavrylyuk has fully recovered from that accident, and his playing is more powerful and poetic than ever. We'll hear him play Chopin and Scriabin Etudes in concert in Miami. And another musician who has come back from a potentially devastating injury: violinist Peter Oundjian lost full use of his left hand due to a repetitive stress disorder. So he took up conducting. Today he'll lead the Toronto Symphony in excerpts from Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4.

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. Thursday night in Atlanta, the Atlanta Symphony and the singers of Morehouse and Spelman Colleges in Atlanta presented a King celebration concert. We'll hear highlights from that concert in both hours today.

This weekend on PT, it's our Piano Puzzler. Composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great classical composer. We get a listener on the phone who tries to guess the hidden tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. See if you can guess what Bruce is up to, on this weekend's Piano Puzzler.