Poster Musical score
Image of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 (original score)
IMSLP via Wikimedia Commons
Performance Today®

Caroline Shaw: Watermark

In printing and publishing, a watermark is a faint design in paper that's used to identify the time and place the paper came from. Composer Caroline Shaw had a poetic version of that idea and composed a piece that references a Beethoven piano concerto. On today's show, hear Jonathan Biss and the Saint Paul Chamber orchestra play Watermark, by Caroline Shaw.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

R. Nathaniel Dett: In the Bottoms - Suite: Prelude: Night
William Chapman Nyaho, piano
Senku - Piano Music by Composers of African Descent
MSR Classics NA

Bruce Adolphe: Couple
David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano
Music@Menlo, The Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton, Atherton, CA

Richard Wagner, arr. Kenneth Woods: Siegfried Idyll
English Symphony Orchestra; Kenneth Woods, conductor
English Symphony Orchestra, Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK

R. Nathaniel Dett: Magnolia Suite: Part 2
Denver Oldham, piano
R. Nathaniel Dett: Piano Works by Denver Oldham
New World 367

Hour 2

Robert Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16 III. Sehr aufgeregt
Jonathan Biss, piano
Schumann: Fantasie, Kreisleriana & Arabeske
EMI 65391

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Oboe Quartet in F Major, K. 370
James Austin Smith, oboe; from the Escher Quartet: Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Pierre LaPointe, viola; Brook Speltz, cello
The Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, The Breakers - Gold Room, Palm Beach, FL

Caroline Shaw: Watermark
Jonathan Biss, piano; Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Mischa Santora, conductor
SPCO, Ordway Concert Hall, Saint Paul, MN

Moses Hogan: My Soul's Been Anchored
Morehouse College Glee Club; David Morrow, conductor
Bound for the Promised Land
Albany Records NA

Marques Garrett: Seek Ye First
Morehouse College Glee Club; David Morrow, conductor
IMC Intercollegiate Men's Choruses Inc. 2012 National Seminar The Morehouse College Glee Club
Morehouse College NA

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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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