Poster Paul Wittgenstein
Paul Wittgenstein
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Performance Today®

Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

In 1930, Maurice Ravel wrote a special concerto for Paul Wittgenstein, a pianist who had lost his right arm in the First World War. On this episode of Performance Today, we'll hear a performance of Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, from a concert in Round Top, Texas.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Valerie Coleman: Concerto for Wind Quintet: Movement 1: Afro
Imani Winds
Album: The Classical Underground
Koch International Classics

Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major
Francois Dumont, piano
Texas Festival Orchestra | Ransom Wilson, conductor
Round Top Festival Institute, Festival Concert Hall, Round Top, TX

Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata for two violins Op. 56
Nikki & Timothy Chooi, violins
Lake George Music Festival, Zankel hall, Skidmore College, Saratoga Spring, NY

Ruth Crawford Seeger: Suite for Wind Quintet
Imani Winds
UChicago Presents, Mandel Hall, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Hour 2

Carlos Salzedo: Bolero and Rumba
Yolanda Kondonassis, harp
Album: Salzedo's Harp
Telarc 80691

Antonin Dvorak: Slavonic Dances for Piano, Four Hands
Michael Brown, piano | Wu Han, piano
University of Georgia Performing Arts Center / CMSLC, Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, UGA Performing Arts Center, Athens, GA

Enrique Crespo: Vals Peruano
Canadian Brass
Rockport Music, Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA

Jennifer Higdon: Harp Concerto
Yolanda Kondonassis, harp
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra | Ward Stare, conductor
Album: American Rapture
Azica 71327

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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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