Performance Today®

Flying at night is no big deal these days. It was a huge deal during World War II. Weather reports were sketchy, maps were occasionally correct. Cockpit instruments were unreliable. Not to mention the existential anxiety of getting shot at. American composer Samuel Barber was in the Army Air Force during World War Two. His piece "Night Flight" is evocative of the inky darkness, but also the beautiful calm of being above it all. We'll hear Barber's Night Flight played by the London Symphony Orchestra. Also: "Playing and hearing music by Chopin, you learn not only what the piano can do, you learn about its soul." American pianist Jonathan Biss joins us to talk about, and play, music by Chopin and Schumann.

Irish poet William Butler Yeats tried to "reconstruct an old song from three lines imperfectly remembered by an old peasant woman in the village, who sings them to herself." That inspired his poem, "The Salley Gardens," which has been set to music by at least half a dozen composers. We'll hear Benjamin Britten's version, sung by Sarah Connolly, in concert last week at Wigmore Hall in London. Also, Chatham Baroque plays a set of Irish jigs in concert in Pittsburgh. Two great Irish orchestras in concert in Dublin. And Bruce Adolphe has a brand new Piano Puzzler.

In 1962, pianist John Browning was set to give the premiere of Samuel Barber's new piano concerto. There was just one problem. Two weeks before the premiere, Barber still hadn't written the third movement. In today's show, Browning tells the story behind that premiere, involving himself, Barber, and the interventions of Aaron Copland and Vladimir Horowitz. And pianist Meng-Chieh Liu performs it with Barber's alma mater orchestra, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in Philadelphia.

There is a lovely Bavarian town called Traunstein. The Alps rise majestically on one side, lakes glimmer on the other. A monastery was founded in the town center in 1685. Now it's used as an art gallery and performance space. From that former monastery in Bavaria, we'll hear a sparkling performance of Mozart's Piano Quartet in E-flat Major. Also: Samuel Barber was a great American composer, but as his friend Lee Hoiby recalls, Barber was not always a model of decorum. Hoiby tells a story about Barber kicking his way through patrons at a concert one evening.

We're continuing to focus on the music of Samuel Barber, in honor of his 100th birthday. In today's show, "Knoxville: Summer of 1915," set to the words of James Agee. Agee's words describe a deliciously languid summer evening in Tennessee, with everyone gathered under the trees to stay cool. Barber's music adds just the right quality of amazement, according to conductor Nicholas McGegan. McGegan conducts the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and soprano Carolyn Sampson in a performance.

Samuel Barber's greatest hit was his Adagio for Strings. It began its life as the slow movement of a string quartet, heard on yesterday's show. Today, it occupies a special place in our consciousness. Used at state funerals and solemn occasions. When he wrote it, it's unlikely the 26-year-old Barber could have imagined it would take on such a life of its own. The Barber Adagio, in several different arrangements, today on PT.

"Chopin's very good for you, he's a good gym composer...he really gets you in shape!" So says pianist Garrick Ohlsson in our PT interview. But that's only one side of Chopin's appeal for Ohlsson. He also says "there is an uninhibited emotionality about Chopin...he evokes on the piano an emotional state of consciousness, alive and flickering and varying moment to moment." Garrick Ohlsson joins us to talk about the art of playing Chopin. And Ohlsson plays a pair of Chopin Etudes, the Ballade No. 1, and a meltingly beautiful Nocturne.

We're continuing to focus on the music of Samuel Barber, one day after his 100th birthday. In today's show, "Knoxville: Summer of 1915," set to the words of James Agee. Agee's words describe a deliciously languid summer evening in Tennessee, with everyone gathered under the trees to stay cool. Barber's music adds just the right quality of amazement, according to conductor Nicholas McGegan. McGegan conducts the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and soprano Carolyn Sampson in a performance.

Samuel Osborne Barber II was born 100 years ago today. We'll be highlighting some of Barber's greatest hits in the coming weeks. In today's show, Barber friend and fellow composer Lee Hoiby shares stories of his friend, including one involving his overture to "The School for Scandal." Details in the show, but the moral of the story: don't snub the oboist's wife. Music by one of America's greatest composers, all this week on Performance Today.