Performance Today®

It makes up almost three-fourths of the earth's surface, and you can't go more than a few days without it. Lots of great pieces of music have been written about it. Let Performance Today be your port in the storm as we focus on some of the world's great water music.

The old joke goes, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" Answer, "Practice!" And how do you get to win a major guitar competition? Practice even more. It took three tries, but guitarist Marco Sartor finally won the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition this year. We'll hear his winning performance of Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez."

When pianist Lang Lang performed recently at the BBC Proms, he wanted to be closer to the audience. So he put the piano on the main floor of Royal Albert Hall, instead of up on the stage. We'll hear three pieces that were part of his solo piano recital, two Rachmaninoff preludes and a Chopin etude.

Fred Child sits down in the studio with the members of the Academy of Ancient Music to talk about their authentic approach to Mozart, and how Mozart's writing for violin was influenced by the instruments of the era...and by his father. Violinist Giuliano Carmignola joins them for a Mozart Violin Concerto and Rondo.

We'll go to the Concertgebouw to hear an outstanding performances by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. Roberto Benzi is the conductor for a performance of Debussy's "Three Images for Orchestra."

Violinist Joshua Bell joins Fred Child in the studio for a conversation about his approach to music of the Romantic era. Pianist Matthew Bengtson joins Bell for short pieces by Fritz Kreisler, Tchaikovsky and Pablo de Sarasate.

The turbines at Germany's Heimbach Power Plant no longer generate electricity. But the musicians who perform at the Spannungen Music Festival certainly do. We'll take you to this decommissioned art deco power plant for a Mozart Divertimento by violinist Christian Tetzlaff, violist Tabea Zimmerman and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff.

Conductor Christoph Konig made an unusual choice while leading the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Haydn's 103rd Symphony, nicknamed the "Drumroll" Symphony. He downplayed that attention-getting blast of percussion, instead opting for an unsettling distant rumble. See what you think of his take on Haydn when they play it in concert in Fribourg, Switzerland.

We'll go to the Concertgebouw to hear two outstanding performances by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. First, Jaap van Zweden leads them in Sibelius' Fifth Symphony. Then Roberto Benzi is the conductor for a performance of Debussy's "Three Images for Orchestra."