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 pressed into a piece of paper used to identify the time and place it was created. 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

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Sonata No.16 in C K545: I. Allegro
Christian Zacharias, piano
Album: 50 Best Piano
EMI Records

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

Aaron Copland: Our Town
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra | Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Album: Copland: Music for Films
RCA 61699

Joseph Haydn: Piano Sonata in G minor, Hob. XVI:44
Christian  Zacharias, piano
Spivey Hall, Clayton State University, Morrow, GA

Hour 2

Alexander Scriabin: Two Etudes: C-sharp minor, F-sharp minor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Album: Alexander Scriabin - The Complete Etudes
Bridge 9287

Edgar Oliviero: Sarahnade Mambo
Sarah Willis, horn | Orquesta del Lyceum de La Habana | Jose Mendez Padron, conductor
Konzerthaus, Berlin, Germany

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384
Orquesta del Lyceum de La Habana | Jose Mendez Padron, conductor
Konzerthaus, Berlin, Germany

Stewart Goodyear: Piano Quartet
Jun Iwasaki, violin | Cynthia Phelps, viola | Mark Kosower, cello | Stewart Goodyear, piano
Seattle Chamber Music Society, The Center for Chamber Music, Seattle, WA

Johannes Brahms: Rhapsodies, Op. 79
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, New York, NY

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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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