With some reluctance, Frederic Chopin left Poland for Vienna at the age of 20, carrying an urn filled with soil from his beloved home country. He never returned to Poland, but the composer, literally and musically, was never far from his homeland. In 1849, Chopin was laid to rest at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, and the urn from Poland is still at his side. On Monday's Performance Today, hear Wu Han in concert, playing Frederic Chopin's Polonaise in B-flat Major.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Sonata in D major, K576: Movement 3
Alfred Brendel, piano
Mozart: Piano Sonatas K281,282, 576, Etc
Philips 000395702
Aaron Copland: Clarinet Concerto
Martin Frost, Clarinet; Houston Symphony; Andres Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, Houston, TX
Frederic Chopin: Polonaise in B flat Major Op. 71, No. 2
Wu Han, piano
Aspen Music Festival and School, Harris Hall, Aspen, CO
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Kegelstatt Trio, K. 498
Todd Palmer, clarinet; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; Pedja Muzijevic, piano
Spoleto Festival USA, Dock Street Theater, Charleston, SC
Hour 2
Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Gabriela Montero): Improvisation on Prelude in C, from the Well-Tempred Clavier Book I, BWV 846
Gabriela Montero, piano
Bach And Beyond
EMI 64647
Valerie Coleman: Tzigane
Imani Winds
Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space, New York City, NY
Bedrich Smetana: Ma vlast (My Homeland): Movements 1-2
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Jiri Belohlavek, conductor
NHK Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Consuelo Velazquez (arr. Gabriela Montero): Improvisation on "Besame Mucho"
Gabriela Montero, piano
Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, Houston, TX
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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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