Performance Today®

British conductor Nicholas McGegan says, "When I direct an orchestra, I don't see myself as working with them. I'm having fun with them." McGegan turns 60 today, and we'll celebrate the day by listening to him having fun with three different orchestras, Germany's Gottingen Festival Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Every Wednesday 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. And...who's looking out for bassoonists? PT, that's who. We'll feature one of our favorite bassoon soloists, Peter Kolkay, in a concert performance of a Bassoon Quartet by Francois Devienne, from the OK Mozart Festival, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. And we'll point out a bassoon highlight in Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, as we hear the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra in concert in Copenhagen.

Conductor Simon Rattle is back to introduce the Symphony No. 2, by Johannes Brahms. (Every Tuesday this month, Rattle joins host Fred Child to introduce one of the four Brahms symphonies.) Rattle says "this is a work where real unalloyed joy comes out, and that, in all of Brahms' output, is fairly rare." And we'll go to a concert in Berlin, with Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, in the complete symphony.

Noted for his crusty, curmudgeonly demeanor, Johannes Brahms was usually gruff, not gracious. So when he gave a compliment, you knew he meant it. After hearing Dvorak's "Legends," Brahms wrote to the publisher, "Please tell Dvorak how much his Legends have given me lasting pleasure. They are fascinating, and the man's fresh, exuberant, rich powers of invention are enviable." Those enviable Legends are on the show today, performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony and Ilan Volkov.

Ottorino Respighi loved his adopted city of Rome. He wrote three memorable pieces about the city. Today we'll hear his "Roman Festivals," with its final movement a musical depiction of the sights, sounds, and smells of a Roman Epiphany festival. And, after taking a week off, Bruce Adolphe is back with the first "Piano Puzzler" of the new year. Make a resolution to tune in.

Arvo Part wrote angular, dissonant music in the 1950s and 60s. After taking time off to study mediaeval works, he had a conversion experience -- he returned to composition a different man, and his music took on a completely different character. We'll hear one of the first things he wrote after his return, a piece that's become iconic for fans of his spare, evocative sound: "Fratres." Plus, two works by a fine 19th century composer whose last name is Franck...but whose first name isn't Cesar. We'll remember the neglected composer, Eduard Franck.

Two special introductions: the winner of the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award, and PT's Artists-in-Residence. Once every four years, the Gilmore Keyboard Festival names their "Gilmore Artist." The winner gets $300,000 and bookings in major concert halls around the world. Performance Today has the exclusive broadcast announcement of the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award, and host Fred Child talks with the winner. Also: we'll introduce the Parker Quartet as Performance Today Artists-in-Residence. They'll join Fred in the studio to play Mendelssohn's Quartet No. 2. And we'll begin PT's nationwide string quartet competition for high school and college age string quartets.

We'll have music for Epiphany this January 6th. Ottorino Respighi loved his adopted city of Rome. He wrote three memorable pieces about the city. Today we'll hear his "Roman Festivals," with its final movement a musical depiction of the sights, sounds, and smells of a Roman Epiphany festival. And, after taking a week off, Bruce Adolphe is back with the first "Piano Puzzler" of the new year. Make a resolution to tune in.

Conductor Simon Rattle joins Fred to introduce the Symphony No. 1 by Johannes Brahms. This begins a month-long look at the Brahms symphonies with Sir Simon, he'll be on PT every Tuesday through the month of January introducing his performances with the Berlin Philharmonic. And...it was the source of a summer-long debate on PT in 2008, and the subject never goes away -- is it okay to applaud between movements? We'll hear cellist Lynn Harrell in concert in Athens, Georgia, playing a Mendelssohn Sonata. The audience gave him an enthusiastic round of applause after the opening movement. Harrell weighs in on the subject, as does conductor Charles Dutoit, and we invite your comments, as well.