Performance Today®

The Emerson String Quartet has spent nearly thirty years making great chamber music together. They don't have any problems keeping up with the demanding repertoire or concert schedule. But one of their big concerns is keeping the music fresh, whether it's the first performance of a piece or the 101st. Tune in today to hear them perform a Haydn string quartet.

Nearly twenty years ago, violinist Gil Shaham got a call from philanthropist Avery Fisher, telling Shaham he had won a career grant. Two weeks ago, Shaham won the coveted Avery Fisher Prize, the highest honor given to an American classical instrumentalist. Today we'll feature a performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Gil Shaham and the Aspen Chamber Symphony, from the Aspen Festival.

Pianist Radu Lupu isn't exactly a media darling. He has a gruff exterior. He scowls at the audience when he performs, grants no interviews, and generally keeps to himself. But his playing is wonderfully warm and expressive. Today we'll hear him perform Beethoven's fourth piano concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony.

Stravinsky once said that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Today we'll turn that around and have music about writing. Today's second hour features some musical works that are based on poetry, and others that are musical poems themselves. Plus, one of the orchestras on the show was just named the best in the world. Tune in to find out who the winner was.

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 3, No. 2 Pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy

When Antonin Dvorak lived in Bohemia, he wrote music that sounded Bohemian. And for the brief time he lived in America, he wrote American-sounding music, and encouraged American composers to do the same. Today we'll hear a performance of Dvorak's "New World" symphony featuring the Cleveland Orchestra, led by conductor Franz Welser-Most.

Today's show features lots of great American music and performances, from Barber's Violin Concerto to the beloved American tune, "Shenandoah." Plus, we'll have a performance of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, with its depictions of thankful celebrations. Whether you're busy fixing the turkey, or just relaxing with loved ones, make Performance Today part of your Thanksgiving holiday.

Today marks the Performance Today debut of Houston's River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. Conductor JoAnn Falletta leads them in a recent performance of Richard Strauss' suite, "The Bourgeois Gentleman." Written for a play by Moliere, it's music about a commoner who aspires to join the nobility. Strauss manages to make fun of both along the way.

It may not be spring, at least in this hemisphere, but today you can get a taste of it. We'll feature a performance of Robert Schumann's "Spring" symphony from the Music Academy of the West. Normally depressed and anxious, Schumann wrote this sunny work at a time when he was blissfully, if only briefly, happy.