Poster Composer Robert Schumann has his share of critics.
Composer Robert Schumann has his share of critics. Pianist Jonathan Biss is out to prove them wrong.
Image by Michael Nicholson
Performance Today®

Schumann's horn-heavy concertstuck

Robert Schumann wrote a piece that features four horns playing flat out over an orchestra. It's not played very often, because you need four super-talented horn players to pull it off. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear a performance of Schumann's horn-heavy concertstuck from an all-star concert in Aspen, Colorado.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Ernest Bloch: Symphony in E flat major: 2. Allegro
Malmo Symphony Orchestra Andrey Boreyko, conductor
Bloch: Symphony / Evocations / 3 Jewish Poems
BIS 1183

Jean-Marie Leclair: Sonata for two violins in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4
Jasmine Lin, violin; Wayne Lee, violin
Levin Performance Studio, Chicago, IL

The Piano Puzzler: This week's contestant is Betty S. from Kensington, MD

Ernest Bloch: Schelomo; Hebraic Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra
Dmitry Kouzov, cello; Sinfonia da Camera; Ian Hobson, music director and conductor
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Urbana, IL

Hour 2

Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita No. 4 in D Major: Movements 3, 6
Jeffrey Kahane, piano
Bach: Partita/Inventions
Nonesuch 79121

Gyorgy Ligeti: Concert Romanesc
Orchestra of St. Luke's; Cristian Macelaru, conductor
Caramoor Music Festival, Venetian Theater, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Katonah, NY

Claude Debussy: Six Epigraphes antiques for 4 hands
Jeffrey Kahane, piano; Wu Han, piano
Music@Menlo, The Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton, CA

Robert Schumann: Concertstuck in F major for Four Horns and Orchestra, Op. 86: Movements 1-3
Andrew Bain, horn; John Zirbel, horn; Kevin Rivard, horn; Alexander Kienle, horn; Aspen Chamber Symphony; Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Benedict Music Tent, Aspen Music Festival and School, Aspen, CO

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Hosted by Valerie Kahler, 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.

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