Performance Today®

By Leonard Slatkin's count, there are over 80 different orchestrations of Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." He tapped into 15 of them to create a unique version of the work. He leads the Nashville Symphony in a performance of it at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.

It had been 21 years since violinist Nigel Kennedy had played at London's BBC Proms. But the onetime classical bad boy (and pop culture phenomenon) was the featured soloist at an opening-weekend concert nine days ago. We'll go there to hear him perform music from Sir Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto.

Leonard Bernstein: Overture to "Candide" The Curtis Symphony Orchestra with conductor Christoph Eschenbach Kimmel Center, Philadelphia

Our week of outstanding pianists concludes with a performance in Berlin by a seasoned statesman of the keys. Maurizio Pollini offers a vibrant interpretation of Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto with conductor Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Our week of performances by outstanding pianists continues with one of the masters. A thumb injury kept Murray Perahia from performing for several years, but now he's back on the concert stage. And he says that the music of Bach served as his therapy. Find out why critics are raving about his latest collection of Bach partitas when he plays one in Bethesda, Maryland.

Last week, Colorado's Aspen Festival hosted a concert that offered a rare opportunity to hear three masters of their instruments playing chamber music together. We'll go there to hear violinist Gil Shaham, pianist Yefim Bronfman and cellist Lynn Harrell play a Mozart Piano Trio. Find out why this was the festival's toughest ticket.

The legendary 19th-century violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim makes his presence felt on today's show. His "Hungarian" Violin Concerto is performed by Christian Tetzlaff with conductor Rossen Milanov and the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia. And his cadenzas are used by Veronika Eberle as she plays Mozart's Fourth Violin Concerto with Lawrence Foster and the North German Radio Symphony in Hamburg.

This week, "Performance Today" casts a spotlight on some excellent pianists. We'll start in Dallas, where Stephen Hough plays Rachmaninoff's seldom played Fourth Concerto with Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony. And then we'll go to St. Paul, where Stephen Kovacevich performs Beethoven's First Concerto with Joseph Swensen and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

We'll have plenty of music from Aspen this weekend, including Rachmaninoff preludes from pianist Lang Lang; a Mozart piano trio featuring violinist Julia Fischer, cellist Daniel Muller-Schott and pianist Jonathan Gilad; and South American works from guitarist Sharon Isbin.