Performance Today®

In the end, a piano is nothing more than wood and strings and keys - not all that complex. But to truly bring it alive takes a collaboration of composer, soloist, orchestra, and conductor. In today's show, a musical dream team consisting of composer Frederic Chopin, pianist Emanuel Ax (pictured), the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and conductor Gustavo Dudamel. They'll perform Chopin's second piano concerto in Gothenburg, Sweden.

There are two faces to the Memorial Day holiday - honoring those who have died, and welcoming in the summer. In today's show, we have music for both, including excerpts from Brahms' (pictured) German Requiem from Boston, and Samuel Barber's lovely woodwind quintet, "Summer Music," performed by musicians from New York's Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

But for an off-hand remark, it would have been called the "Bridgetower Sonata." Beethoven's "Kreutzer Sonata" is our featured work in the second hour. Poet Rita Dove (pictured) is our guest, and shares the story of Beethoven's friendship with violinist George Bridgetower, and how it went awry. We'll hear a complete performance of the work by violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Martha Argerich.

It's an ambitious goal: summing up all of American folk music into the space of 15 minutes. Most wouldn't even attempt it. But violinist and composer Mark O'Connor didn't shy away from the task. The result, "Strings and Threads," is our 21st century music feature for this week. Guitarist Sharon Isbin joins the composer for the performance, from New York City.

With a cursed, magic ring, a broken sword, and battles between good and evil, Wagner's operatic Ring cycle has plenty in common with J.R.R. Tolkien's epic, "The Lord of the Rings." There's a new Tolkien book just out which retells the Norse legends surrounding Wagner's Ring. Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic recently performed a set of highlights from Wagner's "Gotterdammerung," featured in hour one of today's show.

But for an off-hand remark, it would have been called the "Bridgetower Sonata." Beethoven's "Kreutzer Sonata" is our featured work in the second hour. Poet Rita Dove (pictured) is our guest, and shares the story of Beethoven's friendship with violinist George Bridgetower, and how it went awry. We'll hear a complete performance of the work by violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Martha Argerich.

Leos Janacek was 74 and madly in love with a much younger woman. She didn't love him back. And besides, both were married to other people. None of that stopped him from writing her over 700 love letters. He also wrote a string quartet and dedicated it to her, calling it "Intimate Letters." On today's show, the Emerson String Quartet performs this monument to unrequited love.

Pianist Andras Schiff has spent the last two years performing all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles. He says that undertaking has put him in greater touch with Beethoven. While some think of Beethoven's music as full of heroism and drama, Schiff says he hears "a great gratitude" in it. Today, we'll feature Schiff in Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 31, from a concert in Los Angeles.

Johannes Brahms: Antantino from Intermezzo in E Minor, Op. 119, No. 2 Pianist Emanuel Ax