Performance Today®

Today marks the vernal equinox, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. We'll hear what spring sounds like to composers Vivaldi, Piazzolla, Debussy, and Schubert. Plus, we'll hear music about flowers, frogs, and California's Santa Ana Winds. Experience springtime and the joy of being reborn, on today's PT.

The 1943 premiere of Ralph Vaughan Williams' fifth symphony had to be held in the afternoon, because German bombs often fell at night. The symphony represents the search for tranquility, peace, and happiness. It was an immediate favorite at its premiere, and has been ever since. On today's show, we'll hear a performance of the fifth symphony by the Swedish Radio Symphony and conductor Daniel Harding.

The second hour of today's show features some especially heavenly music. We'll hear music inspired by the earth, the moon, and two of the planets - Mercury and Jupiter. And we'll finish with a performance by the Borealis Wind Quintet, named in honor of the aurora borealis - those ghostly, shimmery colored lights in the northern sky.

We're celebrating St. Patrick's Day today. We'll hear musicians from Ireland, like James Galway and Camerata Ireland. We'll hear music from Ireland, Bryn Terfel singing Danny Boy, and Irish tunes from the baroque to the modern. And some music inspired by Ireland, an American concerto for violin with Irish roots, by Mark O'Connor.

French horn players usually sit in the back of the orchestra. The bells of their instruments pointing backwards, their sound goes the wrong direction, towards the back of the stage. There's not much glory in that. But in today's show, the horn section of the German Symphony Orchestra moves to the front of the orchestra to perform Robert Schumann's Concert Piece for Four Horns in Berlin.

Sergei Prokofiev was living in Paris when he started writing his second violin concerto. But he suffered an incurable bout of homesickness, and returned to Russia in 1935. On today's show, we'll feature this half-French, half-Russian concerto. Violinist Liza Ferschtman is making her PT debut with this performance, accompanied by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Yakov Kreizberg.

Usually, overtures are relegated to the start of a concert. They make great appetizers, with the symphonies and concertos forming the entrees for the evening. But sometimes, overtures are so good that you can make a whole meal out of them. We've got three of them in the second hour of today's show, plus a few other tasty morsels.

Sergei Prokofiev was living in Paris when he started writing his second violin concerto. But he suffered an incurable bout of homesickness, and returned to Russia in 1935. On today's show, we'll feature this half-French, half-Russian concerto. Violinist Liza Ferschtman is making her PT debut with this performance, accompanied by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Yakov Kreizberg.

At age 43, Johannes Brahms completed his first symphony. That was ancient by the standards of the day. Today, we'll hear a first symphony written by a much older composer, the 66-year-old Cesar Franck. Turns out, it was the only symphony he ever wrote. The critics didn't like it much when it premiered in 1889. But the work has endured. Today, we'll hear a performance of the symphony by the Metropolitan Orchestra of Greater Montreal.