Performance Today®

For many people, Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without a performance of Handel's "Messiah." We'll bring you one of the best, a recent concert by Boston's Handel and Haydn Society Chorus and Orchestra, with Harry Christophers conducting. Handel's "Messiah" has been a hit ever since it premiered in Dublin in 1742. So much so that, in early performances, ladies were asked not to wear hoop skirts and men were advised to leave their swords at home, in order to accommodate more concertgoers in the hall.

"Time for another Piano Puzzler!" Every Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe tickles the PT ivories with one of his keyboard conundrums. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. One of our listeners calls in and tries to guess the tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating.

There's some debate about whether to clap between movements or not. But everyone agrees you should applaud at the end of a piece of music. Trouble is, how do you know when it's over? Haydn put several false endings into his Symphony Number 90, just to fool us. We'll hear a London audience fall for the joke in a performance by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Several musical highlights today, among them: an elegant performance of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 2 from the 2009 Aspen Music Festival. Gil Shaham solos, David Zinman conducts the Aspen Festival Orchestra. An athletic performance of Three Movements from Petrushka, the finger-twister for pianists by Igor Stravinsky. Alexei Volodin in concert at the Ernen Festival in Switzerland. And the Georgia Guitar Quartet plays their version of Vince Guaraldi's Christmas classic, "Linus and Lucy," in concert in their hometown of Athens, Georgia. Fred also throws in a quick examination of the bizarre "Jews Harp" concertos, by Johann Albrechtsberger.

"Time for another Piano Puzzler!" Every Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe tickles the PT ivories with one of his keyboard conundrums. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. One of our listeners calls in and tries to guess the tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating.

The PT debut of an innovative recorder quartet from Germany: "Quartet New Generation." They proudly proclaim that the recorder is suitable for *any* kind of music, from Renaissance madrigals to Euro techno dance music. We'll hear "QNG" play a smoky tango on four of their biggest (and lowest) recorders, in concert at the 2009 Ojai Festival. We'll follow that with a tango for trumpet and orchestra, from soloist Tine Thing Helseth and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo, as they play Astor Piazzolla's "Oblivion."

Aside from a roaring lion, what is a "lion's roar"? It's an unusual percussion instrument, and it roars in Patrick Dunnigan's bold arrangement of Renaissance dances. Fred Child explains what makes the lion roar, and we'll hear a full-throttle performance by the Dallas Wind Symphony, with drummers and brass players unleashed, and...the roaring lion.

Can an Austrian orchestra swing? We explore that question, as the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz, Austria, gives a performance of the Symphonic Dances from Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story." Bernstein's music is jazzy, raucous, not the least bit tidy or controlled. We'll see if the Austrians can get into the American spirit of the music, in this performance from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Plus, a new Piano Puzzler with Bruce Adolphe.

Yesterday, the young Chinese pianist Lang Lang played at the Nobel Peace Price Award Ceremony in Oslo, Norway. We have Lang Lang's performances of a Chopin Etude, and "Liebestraum" by Franz Liszt. And Lang Lang talks about the honor of being invited to perform at the ceremony, and why he chose these two pieces.