Performance Today®

Pianist Andre Watts talks about how he "felt like an idiot" at the beginning of his career, jetting to concerts around the world as a teenager. And how legendary pianist and teacher Leon Fleisher helped him overcome his self-doubts. We'll hear Andre Watts in concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, playing the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Camille Saint Saens.

Our weekly Piano Puzzler is on the way, as composer Bruce Adolphe takes up residence at the PT Piano. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. A Performance Today listener calls in, tries to name the hidden tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. (This week's caller is from Columbia, South Carolina.)

The fall of the Berlin Wall was 20 years ago yesterday, and there was a big concert in Berlin last night, to cap a day full of celebration. Two orchestras, one from the former East Berlin, one from West, joined forces in a joyful concert, featuring the music of Schubert, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn. We'll bring you highlights from last night's big event.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was 20 years ago today. Throughout the show today, we'll revisit those events from 1989, the music that surrounded them, and the lives of performers and composers affected by the Iron Curtain. From cellist Mstislav Rostropovich seated alone at the wall playing Bach, to the amassed forces of an international orchestra and chorus performing Beethoven's jubilant Ninth Symphony on Christmas Day 1989, be sure to join us for an extra-special Performance Today.

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone to guess the tune, and the composer Bruce is mimicking. Even if you're not the one calling this week, play along! See if YOU can guess the tune and the composer, in our Piano Puzzler.

A long-forgotten work by Ralph Vaughan Williams is on today's show. Vaughan Williams wrote "Heroic Elegy and Triumphal Epilogue" when he was 28 and a student at London's Royal College of Music. In what was perhaps the first performance of the work in over a century, Mark Elder and the Halle Orchestra performed it last month in Manchester, England. Tune in to the show today to hear that performance of Vaughan Williams' overlooked gem.

There is a flood of new classical recordings this fall, and to help us sort through them, Julie Amacher joins Fred today (and for the next three Thursdays) with "New Classical Tracks," her CD reviews and recommendations. Today Julie's pick is the new trio recording by three renowned soloists playing together for the first time: violinist Vadim Repin, cellist Mischa Maisky, and pianist Lang Lang.

Yesterday, we brought you Part I of Mahler's 8th Symphony, known as the Symphony of a Thousand. Today is the conclusion. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas leads the massed forces of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Pacific Boychoir, and the San Francisco Girls Chorus. Tilson Thomas calls the work an "allegory of the distressed soul finding its way through trials to...blessedness."

Gustav Mahler's monumental Symphony Number 8 (the "Symphony of a Thousand") is ambitious in almost every way. Not just its size (intended for an amassed orchestra and chorus of 1,000 people), but in its emotional and intellectual content. Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony have just completed a massive recording project, recording all of the Mahler symphonies. We'll feature Tilson Thomas and San Francisco in part one of the Symphony of a Thousand in today's show. Look for part two on Wednesday.