Performance Today®

To this day in Italy, shepherds come down from the hills at Christmas time and play their bagpipes in front of nativity scenes, reenacting the devotion of the shepherds at the birth of Christ. We'll hear a tribute to that ancient custom in Arcangelo Corelli's Christmas Concerto, performed in a place that rarely sees shepherds, New York City. Plus, we'll visit Christmas celebrations around the country and around the world, to hear great holiday performances.

Music for Christmas Eve, from concerts across the country and around the world. Including what may be the most beautiful Christmas song of the 20th century, the Ave Maria, by Franz Biebl. The men of Chanticleer are in concert at Stanford University, in Palo Alto. Also, two contemplative settings of the ancient Latin text "O Magnum Mysterium." One from 1572 by Tomas Luis de Victoria, another from 1994 by American composer Morton Lauridsen. And...a choral curiosity. The Tokyo FM Boys Choir sings "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" in Japanese.

Today, the four women of Anonymous 4 join Fred Child for music and conversation. They tell the Christmas story of the Cherry Tree, a bit of a marital tiff between Joseph and Mary. They'll also sing selected English and American carols. Also in the show, Bruce Adolphe with the Piano Puzzler, and the hauntingly beautiful "Pastorales de Noel," by Andre Jolivet.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1914, German and British soldiers in Belgium had their own informal cease-fire, sang Christmas songs together, and even traded gifts. We'll remember the remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914, as the male vocal ensemble "Cantus" sings highlights from their show "All is Calm."

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.