Performance Today®

Tomorrow is Felix Mendelssohn's 200th birthday, but his music is as fresh as ever. Today, we'll begin a two-day PT celebration marking the event. You'll hear performances of some of his greatest works. And today, host Fred Child chats with author and musical commentator Rob Kapilow about what makes the Mendelssohn octet so great.

Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata (Violin Sonata No. 9) has primed the creative pumps of plenty of other artists. Tolstoy wrote a book about it. Prinet painted this picture of it. Leos Janacek wrote a string quartet about it. There was even a silent movie, starring Hollywood vamp Theda Bara. Today, we'll hear a bit of the original, plus the Janacek version, from a performance at Washington's Smithsonian.

In Richard Strauss' opera, "Der Rosenkavalier," an older woman gracefully steps aside so her young lover can be with someone new. Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade often sings the role of the dashing young Octavian. But in real life, she's getting ready to say goodbye to the stage after a long and glittering career. Join us today to hear the final scene from "Der Rosenkavalier," featuring Frederica von Stade.

In English, its name translates to "concert building." Not exactly an awe-inspiring name. But among musicians, it's talked about with a certain reverence, awe. Amsterdam's Concertgebouw is, arguably, the finest concert hall in the world. Today, we'll hear its resident orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw, in performance. Pianist Severin von Eckardstein joins them for Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto.

On the surface, it doesn't seem like an equitable trade at all. A soldier sells his soul to the devil for a book. But it turns out to be a very special book. It can predict the future of the economy. No doubt many Washington pundits would be willing to strike a similar bargain these days. It's Igor Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale," and we'll hear it today by the London Sinfonietta, in concert in Minneapolis.

Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata (Violin Sonata No. 9) has primed the creative pumps of plenty of other artists. Tolstoy wrote a book about it. Prinet painted this picture of it. Leos Janacek wrote a string quartet about it. There was even a silent movie, starring Hollywood vamp Theda Bara. Today, we'll hear a bit of the original, plus the Janacek version, from a performance at Washington's Smithsonian.

That's essentially the philosophy of pianist Lars Vogt when performing. All the miniscule details that go into a great performance, the notes, the phrasing, the quest for perfection - worry about that in the practice room. But when you get on stage, just relax and let the magic happen. Today, we'll hear Lars Vogt and the North German Radio Symphony performing Mozart's Piano Concerto Number 20 in Hanover, Germany. Plus, we'll visit a birthday concert at New York's Carnegie Hall in honor of mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne.

When French composer Darius Milhaud visited New York in 1923, he made a bee-line for Harlem to hear some great new American music called "jazz." When he got back home, he wrote a piece called "The Creation of the World," and infused it with the jazz rhythms and harmonies he had heard on his trip. Today, we'll hear it played by members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Pianist Richard Goode can be difficult to work with - not because he's feisty or temperamental, but because he's such a perfectionist. He's never satisfied, always working towards that elusive goal of getting things exactly right. Today, we'll hear him reach that goal as he performs Beethoven's second piano concerto with Ivan Fischer and Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.