Kirill Gerstein: Music in Time of War

Johannes Brahms composed the powerful opening movement of his Piano Concerto No. 1 amid great personal turmoil. The concerto reflects Brahms’s complex emotions about the decline of his mentor, Robert Schumann. On today's show, pianist Yefim Bronfman joins conductor Donald Runnicles and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra for a performance of this moving piece.

Jean Sibelius had three things on his "must see" list during his only visit to the United States in 1914: tall buildings, Niagara Falls, and ...a whale. While he didn't spot a whale during his visit, he successfully premiered a tone poem inspired by the water nymphs (little whales?) of Greek mythology. Join us today as Jakub Hrusa conducts the Czech Philharmonic in a concert performance of The Oceanides by Jean Sibelius.

By the time Mieczyslaw Weinberg composed his second symphony, he had already escaped the Nazis twice. Soon after, he would face the horrors of Stalin's regime directly. However, in 1945, he was relatively safe in Moscow thanks to his friendship with Dmitri Shostakovich. On today's show, we'll hear Weinberg's Symphony No. 2 performed live at the 2025 Salzburg Festival in Austria.

In 1911, Richard Strauss premiered his opera Der Rosenkavalier, a playful story of an 18th-century love triangle involving a gracious noblewoman, a young messenger, and a silver rose. Thirty years later, Strauss agreed to have two orchestral waltz sequences (suites) arranged. On today’s program, Simone Young conducts the Orchestra of the Suisse Romande in a performance of the Waltz Sequence No. 1 from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier.

Composer Toru Takemitsu says, "My music is something like a signal sent to the unknown. I imagine and believe that my signal meets another's and the resulting physical change creates a new harmony." We'll hear Takemitsu's Night Signal featuring the brass section of the Minnesota Orchestra on this episode of Performance Today.

A piercing high E note changed him forever. Bedrich Smetana's 'From My Life" is a musical autobiography, transformed from a string quartet into an orchestral epic by conductor George Szell. From the NOSPR hall in Katowice, Poland, Andrey Boreyko leads the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in a performance that turns personal tragedy into a symphonic triumph.

Violinist Leila Josefowicz has built a career exploring less conventional music; she is well known for performing works by 21st-century composers. She also connects with Igor Stravinsky's music because he explored unexpected sounds. Today, we take you to a recent concert in Berlin to hear Leila Josefowicz perform Stravinsky's Violin Concerto with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Roderick Cox.

Inspired by the buzzy resonance of the ennanga (African trough zither), William Grant Still incorporated the spirit of Central and East African folk music into a Western chamber setting. Still drew on the instrument’s unique character as inspiration for this piece for harp, piano, and strings. Join us today to hear harpist Lily Primus lead Rice University’s Shepherd School Chamber Players in a concert performance of William Grant Still’s ‘Ennanga.’

There's an old Yiddish song called 'Arum Dem Fayer.' It's about the joy of gathering around a fire to sing and dance, and, even if the fire goes out, the stars will be there for light. Composer Osvaldo Golijov used that tune in a new piece he wrote in memory of a friend who loved to sing. We'll hear the ensemble A Far Cry play Golijov's 'Arum Dem Fayer' on today's show.

Composer Toru Takemitsu says, "My music is something like a signal sent to the unknown. I imagine and believe that my signal meets another's and the resulting physical change creates a new harmony." We'll hear Takemitsu's Night Signal featuring the brass section of the Minnesota Orchestra on this episode of Performance Today.