Performance Today®

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.

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.

It's always good to make your exit while you're at the top of your game. In today's show, we'll feature final performances by some of the great classical artists of our time, including conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, pianist Vladimir Horowitz, and violinist Nathan Milstein. Plus, we'll feature John Williams'"Air and Simple Gifts," played at yesterday's presidential inauguration.

Today, the country celebrates the inauguration of the nation's 44th president, Barack Obama. We'll have two hours of inauguration-related music, including early-American political songs from Baltimore, and a performance of Copland's "Lincoln Portrait," with the Atlanta Symphony and narrator Andrew Young. Plus, we'll feature several of the performers scheduled to play at today's inauguration ceremony.

Today's show honors Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. We'll take you to Atlanta to hear last week's King Celebration concert. Given every year at Morehouse College, King's alma mater, this year's concert features performances by the Atlanta Symphony with conductor Robert Spano, and the combined choirs of Spelman and Morehouse colleges.

Astor Piazzolla: Adagio from Suite for Oboe and String Orchestra Oboist Andres Spiller with Camerata Bariloche and conductor Fernando Hasaj