Performance Today®

Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen steps down from his post as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic this week. And today, we'll wrap up our week-long look at Salonen and his tenure at Los Angeles. On today's show, he leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," in concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (pictured).

According to conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, there are "no simple solutions" to playing Beethoven. No corners to cut, no easy way out of the dilemmas posed by his music. On today's show, Salonen, violinist Viktoria Mullova, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic do it the hard way, and the right way, in their performance of the Beethoven violin concerto.

All this week on Performance Today, we've been featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic and outgoing music director Esa-Pekka Salonen. Salonen gives up the podium at the end of this week. He's made a big impact on the orchestra and the city of Los Angeles in his 17-year tenure there. On today's show, Salonen leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in music by Jean Sibelius.

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.