Poster Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes
Ozgur Albayrak
Performance Today®

Leif Ove Andsnes plays Grieg's Piano Concerto

Publishing houses in Germany initially rejected Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto. When pianist Franz Liszt played through the piece with Grieg, Liszt warmly shook his hand and said, "You have the gift. Keep on composing. Don't let them intimidate you." Liszt’s advice changed Grieg's life; that piece has become one of the most famous pieces in classical music. On today's show, pianist Leif Ove Andsnes plays Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in Switzerland.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Frederic Chopin: Sonata for cello and piano Op. 65 Movement 3: Largo
Truls Mork, cello | Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
Album: Frederic Chopin - Robert Schumann - Truls Mork - Leif Ove Andsnes
Simax 1063

Florence Price: Piano Quintet in E minor
Grace Park, violin | Geoffrey Herd, violin | Ettore Causa, viola | Clive Greensmith, cello | Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Geneva Music Festival, Smith Opera House, Geneva, NY

Georg Philipp Telemann: Concerto in D major for Four Violins, TWV 40:202
Ani Kavafian, violin | Arnaud Sussmann, violin | Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, violin | Kristin Lee, violin
Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival and Institute, Spieker Center for the Arts, Menlo Park, CA

Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano | Lucerne Festival Orchestra | Klaus Makela, conductor
Lucerne Festival, Concert Hall KKL, Lucerne, Switzerland

Hour 2

Dmitri Shostakovich: The Golden Age Op. 22a: Movement 1 Introduction
Singapore Symphony Orchestra | Andrew Litton, conductor
Album: Shostakovich: Jazz & Variety Suites
BIS 2472

Dmitri Shostakovich: Suite for Variety Orchestra: Movement 6 Waltz II
NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra | Stanislav Kochanovsky, conductor
EBU, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Holstenhall, Neumunster, Germany

Antonin Dvorak: String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96, "American"
Pacifica Quartet
Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Syracuse, NY

Brian Nabors: Pulse
Lexington Symphony | Jonathan McPhee, conductor
Lexington Symphony, Cary Memorial Hall, Lexington, MA

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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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