When he was a teenager in the early 1920s, Dmitri Shostakovich played piano in movie theaters for silent films. A few years later, he wrote a Piano Concerto that in places almost sounds like music he might have riffed for a Charlie Chaplin comedy. It's the rollicking, jazz-inflected Piano Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich. We'll hear a powerhouse performance by Olga Kern (pictured) and the Nashville Symphony.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Heinrich Franz von Biber: Sonata No. 2 in D
The Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Ingrid Matthews, director
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 3
Olga Kern, piano
Bass Hall, Fort Worth, Texas
Dmitri Shostakovich: Concerto No. 1 in C Minor for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings, Op. 35
Olga Kern, piano, Jeffrey Bailey, trumpet, the Nashville Symphony, Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor
Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville
Moritz Moszkowski: Etincelles (Sparks), Op. 36 No. 6
Olga Kern, piano
Bass Hall, Fort Worth, Texas
Heinrich Franz von Biber: Two movements from Harmonia Artificioso, Partita V
Geoff Nuttall and Livia Sohn, violins, Christopher Costanza, cello, Pedja Muzijevic, harpsichord
Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston, South Carolina
Josef Suk: Meditation on St. Wenceslas, Op. 35a
James Ehnes and Amy Schwartz Moretti, violins, Richard O'Neill, viola, Robert deMaine, cello
Seattle Chamber Music Society Winter Festival, Seattle
Hour 2
Felix Mendelssohn: Scherzo from Octet in E-flat, Op. 20
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pinchas Zukerman, conductor
Joseph Haydn: Two movements from Aus des Ramlers Lyrischer Blumenlese, Hob. XXVb/c
Sarah Shafer, soprano, Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano, Karim Sulayman, tenor, John Moore, baritone, Richard Goode, piano
Marlboro Music Festival, Marlboro, Vermont
Vasen (Arranged by the Punch Brothers): Flippen (The Flip)
The Punch Brothers
Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, Athens, Georgia
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat, Op. 87
Ying Fu and Lucy Chapman, violins, Mary Sang-hyun Yong and Kyle Armbrust, violas, Bronwyn Banerdt, cello
Marlboro Music Festival, Marlboro, Vermont
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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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