Performance Today®

In honor of Independence Day, we'll explore the music of some very independent composers who helped establish a uniquely American sound. They include Aaron Copland (courtesy of the Prairie Winds and the Aspen Chamber Symphony), George Gershwin (from the Jupiter String Quartet), Christopher Theofanidis (from a world premiere performance by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra), and one of the country's first composers, John Antes.

Like many adult siblings, Gil and Orli Shaham don't get to see one another as often as they used to. But the violinist and pianist recently connected up on stage in suburban Atlanta and showed off their musical telepathy on a Mozart Violin Sonata.

It's still not clear who was being crowned when Mozart wrote the "Coronation" Mass. But it's a masterpiece for choir, orchestra and vocal soloists. And we have an outstanding performance of it from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, where Ton Koopman conducted the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Last week, we heard Vladimir Jurowski and the Russian National Orchestra play Anton Safronov's completion of Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. Today, we'll offer your comments about that piece, preceded by the orchestra's performance of Schubert's incomplete original from a concert in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Can it be improved upon? Your call.

Conductor David Robertson addresses the controversy about whether it's appropriate to applaud between movements of a symphony or not. His words to the audience come between the movements of a stirring performance of Dvorak's Eighth Symphony by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in L.A.

Jon Lord has crossed over from the rock world into the classical world. A founding member of the rock band Deep Purple, he's now a composer. Today Fred sits down for a chat with Lord about his music. Plus, we'll hear the final movement of Lord's piano concerto, "Boom of the Tingling Strings."

Pianist Wu Han joins us for a pair of musical conversations today. First, she discusses and performs the first half of Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons" in Washington, D.C. Then we'll go to Colorado's Aspen Festival, where she's joined by cellist David Finckel for the world premiere performance of Pierre Jalbert's Cello Sonata.

They've both been accused of being visually distracting with their onstage mannerisms, but they're still outstanding players. Olli Mustonen and Andre Watts will demonstrate their artistry with works of two Viennese contemporaries. Mustonen plays Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto in Hamburg with Kirill Petrenko and the North German Radio Symphony. And Watts plays three pieces by Schubert in Fort Worth, Texas.

For decades, Jon Lord was the keyboard player for Deep Purple, the British rock band that brought you "Smoke on the Water,""Hush" and "Woman from Tokyo." But now he's concentrating on classical composition. Today's show features the second half of a two-part conversation with Lord, as well as the second movement of his orchestral work, "Disguises," performed by Paul Mann and the Odense Sinfoniorkester.