Performance Today®

It was an epic Chopin evening in Berlin last month: Daniel Barenboim played both Chopin Piano Concertos with the Berlin Philharmonic. We heard No. 2 yesterday; No. 1 is on today's show. Ascher Fisch conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, Daniel Barenboim soloing, in concert at the Philharmonie in Berlin.

The term "busy as a bee" should be changed to "busy as a Barenboim." Pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim seems to work non-stop, performing at least 150 concerts a year. Today and tomorrow, we'll feature Barenboim in the two piano concertos by Frederic Chopin, from the same concert last month in Berlin. Asher Fisch conducts the Berlin Philharmonic.

Our weekly Piano Puzzler is on the way, as composer Bruce Adolphe takes up residence at the PT Piano. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. A Performance Today listener calls in, tries to name the hidden tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. (This week's caller is from Columbia, South Carolina.)

Those are the words to an old Russian folk song. Tchaikovsky heard a carpenter whistling the tune, and not long after that, it showed up in his String Quartet Number 1. The St. Petersburg String Quartet hails from Tchaikovsky's home town of St. Petersburg, Russia. They give a terrific performance of the string quartet, Vanya and all, on tour in New York City.

Pianist Andre Watts talks about how he "felt like an idiot" at the beginning of his career, jetting to concerts around the world as a teenager. And how legendary pianist and teacher Leon Fleisher helped him overcome his self-doubts. We'll hear Andre Watts in concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, playing the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Camille Saint Saens.

Our weekly Piano Puzzler is on the way, as composer Bruce Adolphe takes up residence at the PT Piano. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. A Performance Today listener calls in, tries to name the hidden tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. (This week's caller is from Columbia, South Carolina.)

The fall of the Berlin Wall was 20 years ago yesterday, and there was a big concert in Berlin last night, to cap a day full of celebration. Two orchestras, one from the former East Berlin, one from West, joined forces in a joyful concert, featuring the music of Schubert, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn. We'll bring you highlights from last night's big event.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was 20 years ago today. Throughout the show today, we'll revisit those events from 1989, the music that surrounded them, and the lives of performers and composers affected by the Iron Curtain. From cellist Mstislav Rostropovich seated alone at the wall playing Bach, to the amassed forces of an international orchestra and chorus performing Beethoven's jubilant Ninth Symphony on Christmas Day 1989, be sure to join us for an extra-special Performance Today.

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone to guess the tune, and the composer Bruce is mimicking. Even if you're not the one calling this week, play along! See if YOU can guess the tune and the composer, in our Piano Puzzler.

A long-forgotten work by Ralph Vaughan Williams is on today's show. Vaughan Williams wrote "Heroic Elegy and Triumphal Epilogue" when he was 28 and a student at London's Royal College of Music. In what was perhaps the first performance of the work in over a century, Mark Elder and the Halle Orchestra performed it last month in Manchester, England. Tune in to the show today to hear that performance of Vaughan Williams' overlooked gem.