Performance Today®

It was 250 years ago today that the great Baroque composer, George Frideric Handel, died. He was born a German, but lived and worked in England for most of his professional life. Much of the world is observing the day today, and celebrating the life and works of Handel. Today's show features some of his greatest music, from concerts all across the country.

When the Cleveland Orchestra performed Gustav Mahler's second symphony ("The Resurrection") in Vienna, it was by all accounts an incredible performance. When it was over, the audience erupted in a 13-minute ovation. One critic called it "a Resurrection for the ages." Tune in today to hear the spectacular finale of Mahler's second, from that magical night in Vienna.

On today's show, we'll feature special programming, in observance of Passover and celebration of Easter. Join us, and let us make your weekend special.

This time of year, the word "passion" takes on a special meaning. It's not about love or desire. It's about suffering and death. Today, in observance of Good Friday, we'll feature passion narratives by two very different composers: Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and Osvaldo Golijov's St. Mark Passion. They offer two very different takes on the same story, written three centuries apart.

Handel's great oratorio, "Messiah," is mostly thought of as a Christmas piece. But it was written for, and had its premiere in, the season of Easter. On today's show, we'll feature music from a performance of "Messiah" given just last week in Austin, Texas. Craig Hella Johnson leads the voices of Conspirare and the instrumentalists of the Victoria Bach Festival Baroque Band.

In 1867, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen wrote a play about a young man who spends his life avoiding responsibility. The play features amorous milkmaids, a runaway bride, a cave full of trolls, and a sojourn in the deserts of Egypt. The drama never became one of Ibsen's biggest hits, but the music that Edvard Grieg wrote for it did. On today's PT, Grieg's "Peer Gynt" suites 1 and 2, performed by the North German Radio Philharmonic.

Violinist Nikolaj Znaider says there's nothing harder than playing Mozart. Embodying that perfection that sprang from Mozart's mind and heart and fingers is "an extraordinary task." Today, Znaider proves that he's up to the job. We'll hear him perform Mozart's fifth violin concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, on tour in Omaha, Nebraska.

Gabriel Faure was a good ol' boy from the south. The south of France, that is. But the description fits. Charming, easy-going, pleasure-loving. Liked to smoke and drink. Not the sort you might think to be a church musician, and to compose one of our loveliest sacred works. But he did both. On today's show, to mark the Easter season, we'll feature a performance of Faure's beautiful Requiem.

One of the great questions of life is what, if anything, comes after it. Humans from the beginning of history have wrestled with the question of what happens to us when we die. Artists are no exception. On today's show, we'll hear composer Richard Strauss' view. In his tone poem, "Death and Transfiguration," Strauss paints the picture of a man's life, death, and ultimate transcendence into a life beyond.