Poster joshua bell
joshua bell
Chris Lee
Performance Today®

Sounds of the seasons

It's winter in the southern hemisphere now. Here in the north, we'll have to rely on violinist Joshua Bell to provide our icicles. He'll perform "Winter" from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" in Indiana. We'll also hear music inspired by the beauty of all the seasons, from Tchaikovsky's April in Russia to Astor Piazzolla's "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires."

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Felix Blumenfeld: Etude for the Left Hand Alone, Op. 36
Pianist Michael Ponti
Newport Music Festival, Newport, Rhode Island

Sir Edward Elgar: Third movement from Violin Sonata in E Minor, Op. 82, and "Salut d'Amore," Op. 12
Violinist Nai-Yuan Hu and pianist John Lenehan
Newport Music Festival, Newport, Rhode Island

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414
Pianist and conductor Maurizio Pollini with the Vienna Philharmonic
Musikverein, Vienna, Austria

Enrique Granados: "El mirar de la Maja" ("The Gaze of the Maja")
Mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and pianist Steven Blier
Caramoor International Music Festival, Katonah, New York

Enrique Granados: Fourth movement from Trio for violin, cello, and piano, Op. 50, H. 140
Violinist Jennifer Frautschi, cellist Jiri Barta and pianist Daniel del Pino
Newport Music Festival, Newport, Rhode Island

Hour 2

Joseph Haydn: "Scon eilet froh der Ackersmann" from "The Seasons," Hob. 21/3
Baritone Thomas Quasthoff with Staatskapelle Dresden and conductor Sebastian Weigle

James Oswald: "Ranunculus" from "Airs for the Seasons"
Chatham Baroque
Synod Hall, Oakland, Pennsylvania

Antonio Vivaldi: "Winter" from "The Four Seasons"
Violinist and conductor Joshua Bell with the Indiana University Festival Orchestra
Summer Music Festival, Bloomington, Indiana

Astor Piazzolla: "The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires"
Violinist and conductor Andres Cardenes with the Strings Chamber Orchestra
Strings Music Festival, Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Peter Tchaikovsky: "October (Autumn's Song)" Op. 37b, No. 10, and "April (The Snowdrop)" from "The Seasons," Op. 37b, No. 4
Violist Helen Callus and pianist Robert Koenig
Unitarian Society, Santa Barbara, California

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Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

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