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Performance Today®

Mozart's Requiem

Death stood peering over Mozart's shoulder as he struggled to finish his Requiem Mass in 1791. Mozart was ill, and seemed to know that he was in a race against time. He wrote frenziedly. But in the end, death didn't have the patience to wait for him to finish. He died at age 35, leaving it to others to complete this most beautiful of Requiems. In today's show, a performance of Mozart's Requiem from a concert at the BBC Proms last month.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Igor Stravinsky: Round of the Princesses, from the Firebird
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Hildegard von Bingen: Ymnus de Sancta Maria: Ave Generosa
The Berlin Vocal Consort, James Wood, director
Rhein Vokal Festival, Bingen, Germany

Knut Nystedt: Peace I Leave With You
Nordic Voices
Rhein Vokal Festival, Boppard, Germany

Carlos Chavez: Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonia India)
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

George Frideric Handel: Concerto Grosso in D Minor, Op. 6, No. 10, HWV 328
Al Ayre Espanol, Eduardo Lopez Banzo, conductor and harpsichord
Laeiszhalle, Hamburg, Germany

Traditional Spiritual (Arranged by Kevin Beavers): Deep River
Nathan De'Shon Myers, baritone, the Albany Symphony, David Alan Miller, conductor
Spring for Music, New York City

Traditional Spiritual (Arranged by Stephen Dankner): Wade in de' Water
Nathan De'Shon Myers, baritone, the Albany Symphony, David Alan Miller, conductor
Spring for Music, New York City

Hour 2

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Second movement from Wind Serenade in C Minor
The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Leonard Bernstein: Excerpts from Serenade, after Plato's Symposium
Janine Jansen, violin, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Jarvi, conductor
Old Opera House, Frankfurt, Germany

Frederic Chopin: Nocturne in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 1
Andre Watts, piano

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Excerpts from Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
City of London Sinfonia, Polyphony, soloists, Stephen Layton, conductor
The BBC Proms, London, England

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