Yesterday was Frederic Chopin's 200th birthday. Of all the celebrations across the globe in his honor, the one we're most excited to bring you is from Chopin's home town in Poland. American pianist Garrick Ohlsson gave a very special recital there yesterday. He played on an 1848 Pleyel piano once owned by Chopin, in a manor house in Chopin's home town. The recital was broadcast live over Polish radio, to a nation that Ohlsson admits is "Chopin-crazy." In today's show, we'll have highlights.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Frederic Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat, Op. 9, No. 2
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson
Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
Frederic Chopin: Polonaise in A, Op. 40, No. 1, Ballade No. 3 in A-flat, Op. 47, Scherzo in E, Op. 54, Mazurka in C-sharp Minor, Op. 50, No. 3, Waltz in E-flat, Op. 18, and Polonaise in A-flat, Op. 53
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson
Chopin's childhood home, Zelazowa Wola, Poland
Hour 2
Jonny Greenwood: "Prospectors' Quartet" from "There Will Be Blood"
The Emperor Quartet
Patrick Doyle: "What Players are They" from "Hamlet"
A studio orchestra with conductor Robert Ziegler
John Corigliano: Third and fourth movements from "The Red Violin" Concerto
Violinist Joshua Bell with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore
Frederic Chopin: Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp Minor, Op. Posthumous
Pianist Mikhail Pletnev
Tonhalle, Zurich, Switzerland
Michael Nyman: "The Heart Asks Pleasure First"
Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, K. 183
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra with conductor Hans Graf
Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, St. Paul, Minnesota
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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.
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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