Performance Today®

When Francis Poulenc was composing one particular piece, he said he was imagining angels sticking out their tongues and solemn monks playing soccer. The result is the gloriously irreverent "Gloria," for choir and orchestra. Today we'll hear Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra perform it in Amsterdam. Plus, the Rose Ensemble returns for some early American Christmas music.

The Rose Ensemble, one of the country's great early music groups, stopped by our studios recently to share some of their holiday music with us. Today, we'll feature them in a set of Baroque Christmas pieces from Mexico. It's a unique sound that's a blend of both the old and new worlds.

He's young, handsome, and plays a Guarneri violin. That's the equivalent of driving an expensive sports car. Today, the young Ukrainian violinist Andrej Bielow will take us on some fast curves and hairpin turns, as he performs Glazunov's violin concerto with the Slovak Radio Symphony in Bratislava, Slovakia. Mario Kosik conducts.

Not many of us can hope to be remembered when we've been gone almost two centuries. Beethoven is one of those rare humans who left an enormous legacy for future generations. Today, we'll wish him a happy 238th by playing two of his works. We'll hear the first symphony in Wyoming, and the first piano concerto in Los Angeles, featuring soloist Ingrid Fliter.

An hour of folk-flavored fare reaches a climax with a fiery performance of the Dvorak Cello Concerto. At a concert at Budapest's Palace of Arts, Pieter Wispelwey performs one of the great works for his instrument, in the company of conductor Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

Violinist Hilary Hahn was just nominated for two Grammy Awards for her 2008 recording of the Schoenberg and Sibelius violin concertos. Today we'll hear her in a performance of the Dvorak violin concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra, part of our week-long celebration of the Cleveland Orchestra's 90th anniversary season.

After 60 years of great performances, legendary pianist Alfred Brendel will retire next week. Today we'll hear him in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra, playing Beethoven's third piano concerto in Cleveland. Franz Welser-Most conducts. We'll also air some listener comments and memories, wrapping up our week-long celebration of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Today we'll take you to the Festival del Sole in California's Napa Valley. Violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet team up for a sonata by Edvard Grieg. Plus, we'll continue our week-long celebration of the Cleveland Orchestra with their performance of Aaron Copland's suite from the ballet, "Appalachian Spring," in Cleveland.

Today we continue our week-long look at the Cleveland Orchestra, one of the world's finest. They've had lots of colorful characters at the podium, including one who always conducted with a pistol in his back pocket. Today, we'll hear guest conductor Robert Spano lead the orchestra in music by Wagner and Ravel, from a concert in Cleveland.