Poster Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum
Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum
Via Wikimedia Commons
Performance Today®

Music inspired by Edgar Allan Poe

During a fictitious plague called The Red Death, a prince invited friends to a party, locked safely inside his castle. But a mysterious visitor showed up, and the party took a turn decidedly for the worse. On today's show, hear Andre Caplet's "Conte fantastique," inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "Masque of the Red Death."

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110: III. Allegretto
Pacifica Quartet
Album: The Soviet Experience, Volume 1: String Quartets By Dimitri Shostakovich and His Contemporaries
Cedille

Duke Ellington: Three Black Kings
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra | JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Album: Duke Ellington: Black, Brown, and Beige
Naxos 559737

Piano Puzzler
Contestant: Kate Lamberton calling from Hanover, PA

Andre Caplet: Conte fantastique
Sivan Magen, harp | Pacifica Quartet
Aspen Music Festival and School, Harris Concert Hall, Aspen, CO

Hour 2

John Williams: Olympic Fanfare and Theme, written for the 1984 Olympic Games
Boston Pops | John Williams, conductor
Album: John Williams Greatest Hits 1969-1999
Sony 51333

Erwin Schulhoff: Concertino for flute, viola, and double bass
Robert Cronin, flute, Jessica Oudin, viola, Joe McFadden, bass
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra-Pre-Concert Chamber Music Series, Symphony Hall - Atlanta, GA

Stephen Sondheim: Into the Woods: No One Is Alone
Boston Pops Orchestra | John Williams, conductor
Album: Music of the Night: Pops on Broadway 1990
Sony 45567

Stephen Sondheim: A Little Night Music: Send in the Clowns
Boston Pops Orchestra | John Williams, conductor
Album: The Jukebox Album
Sony

Stephen Sondheim: Evening Primrose: I Remember
Lara Downes, piano
Album: For Lenny
Sony

Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod (Love Death)
Cleveland Orchestra | George Szell, conductor
Album: Wagner Without Words
Sony 46286

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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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