Performance Today®

Giuseppe Verdi's only string quartet was inspired...by boredom. His lead soprano got sick during rehearsals for an 1873 production of Aida. Verdi spent a month in his hotel room, and killed time by writing the only quartet he ever attempted. He later told a friend "I don't know if my quartet is beautiful or ugly, but I know it's a quartet." (C'mon, it's Verdi! Which means it's full of sweeping drama and lyrical singing lines.) Plus PT listeners' calls and comments on Fred Child's interview with Philip Glass, and on new music by David Lang.

August, 1942. The German Army had been laying siege to the Russian city of Leningrad for a year. Nearly 800,000 civilians had died. But on a warm evening, sick and starving musicians gathered for a musical act of defiance: a performance of the new "Leningrad" Symphony, by Dmitri Shostakovich, broadcast via loudspeakers to the Germans outside the city. Music of bravery and resolve -- we'll hear the Cleveland Orchestra give a stirring performance of the final movement, from their residency in Miami. And we'll hear from Shostakovich's broadcast on Radio Leningrad, telling his fellow citizens to defend their city.

Elizabeth Rowe, principal flutist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, confesses that, "When I listen to any recording of Daphnis and Chloe, I get nervous before the flute solo. It doesn't matter who's playing." We'll hear Rowe getting nervous, and performing beautifully, along with the rest of her colleagues in the Boston Symphony. They'll perform excerpts from Ravel's ballet, "Daphnis and Chloe," including that big, nerve-wracking flute solo. Also, a look at several Grammy-nominated recordings and a new Piano Puzzler.

Today we'll feature part two of music and conversation with composer Philip Glass, from a live event in New York. Host Fred Child asks Glass to describe what the experience of composing is about. Glass responds with one word, "fear," and talks about the audacity of composing, given the rich history of music that's come before him. The Glass Chamber Players and Trio Solisti perform music by Glass and Ravel.

There's an urban legend about composer Philip Glass. The one about him driving a New York City cab just when his first opera was being staged at the Met. A passenger looked at his cabbie's license, and declared that he had the same name as a famous opera composer. Turns out, it's true. Glass says he didn't have the heart to tell her that famous composer was driving her home. Today and tomorrow, tune in for music and conversation with Glass from New York's Caspary Auditorium, hosted by Fred Child.

Elizabeth Rowe, principal flutist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, confesses that, "When I listen to any recording of Daphnis and Chloe, I get nervous before the flute solo. It doesn't matter who's playing." We'll hear Rowe getting nervous, and performing beautifully, along with the rest of her colleagues in the Boston Symphony. They'll perform excerpts from Ravel's ballet, "Daphnis and Chloe," including that big, nerve-wracking flute solo. Also, a look at several Grammy-nominated recordings and a new Piano Puzzler.

Johannes Brahms lived another twelve years after finishing his fourth and final symphony. Even so, conductor Simon Rattle hears a man facing his own mortality in the music. Rattle shares his insights into this monumental work, in the final installment of our look at the symphonies of Brahms. And he leads the Berlin Philharmonic in a live performance. We also note the passing of eminent American pianist Earl Wild, who died this past weekend at the age of 94.

In 1910, Gustav Mahler was 50 years old and working on his tenth symphony. And he was a man with a broken heart, both literally and figuratively. He was diagnosed with an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart. He was madly, passionately in love with his wife, Alma. And he discovered she was having an affair. That heartache couldn't help but find its way into his symphony. Today, Michael Tilson Thomas leads the San Francisco Symphony in excerpts from Mahler's tenth from San Francisco.

Violinist Rachel Podger was once told by her teacher that Baroque violin playing was only for those who can't play real violin. So she sneaked out and took Baroque violin lessons on the side. Podger has since become one of the great early music interpreters, and performs with London's Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in today's show. Podger is both soloist and conductor in a Haydn violin concerto.