Kurt Masur isn't the retiring sort. But, at the age of 80, he's giving up the last of his full-time conducting jobs, the position of music director with the French National Orchestra. Here's an opportunity to hear him lead that ensemble in a work that echoes with triumph, despite the fact that Schumann was trying to stave off mental illness while he wrote it.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Wilhelm Stenhammar: Second movement from Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 1
Pianist Love Derwinger with the Malmo Symphony Orchestra and conductor Paavo Jarvi
Luigi Boccherini: Flute Quintet in E-flat, Op. 21, No. 6
Flutist Alexis Kossenko and the Cambini Quartet
The Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France
"The Piano Puzzler"
This week's contestant is Brandon Pederson from St. Paul, Minnesota.
Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64
Violinist Veronika Eberle with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Paavo Jarvi
Rheingau Music Festival, Wiesbaden, Germany
Hour 2
Peter Tchaikovsky: Waltz from "The Sleeping Beauty"
The New York Philharmonic with conductor Kurt Masur
Jacob Van Eyck: "Een Schots Lietjen" ("A Little Scottish Song")
Marion Verbruggen, recorder
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Francisco Tarrega: "Reminiscences of the Alhambra"
Guitarist Xuefei Yang
Spivey Hall, Morrow, Georgia
Dietrich Becker: Sonata a due, violino and viola da gamba
Julie Andrijeski, baroque violin; Patricia Halverson, viola da gamba; and Scott Pauley, theorbo
Synod Hall, Pittsburgh
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C, Op. 61
The French National Orchestra with conductor Kurt Masur
Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris
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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.
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