Performance Today®

What's your favorite Mozart work? Mozart himself addressed that question, and he picked his Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds as his best. We'll hear it performed today by pianist Jon Kimura Parker and members of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, from a concert given in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

The last movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto has been described as "a polonaise for polar bears." See if you agree with one scholar's assessment of the Finnish composer's only violin concerto. We'll hear a complete performance by Lisa Batiashvili with the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Alan Gilbert.

Last week in London, Gramophone magazine handed out its annual Gramophone awards for the best classical recordings of the year. In addition to the usual categories, they gave a special award for the best recording of the last 30 years. Tune in to Performance Today to find out who the surprise winner was.

This weekend, PT has two concerts from two bands from Los Angeles. First, Jeffrey Kahane leads The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in a symphony by Mendelssohn. Then, Vassily Sinaisky leads The Los Angeles Philharmonic in Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances".

Despite living in London, pianist Murray Perahia hadn't played at the BBC Proms for twenty years. Earlier this month that absence came to an end, and Perahia gave a long-awaited performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 with the Chicago Symphony. The tickets were a hot commodity, but you can hear the performance today on PT.

It makes up almost three-fourths of the earth's surface, and you can't go more than a few days without it. Lots of great pieces of music have been written about it. Let Performance Today be your port in the storm as we focus on some of the world's great water music.

The old joke goes, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" Answer, "Practice!" And how do you get to win a major guitar competition? Practice even more. It took three tries, but guitarist Marco Sartor finally won the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition this year. We'll hear his winning performance of Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez."

When pianist Lang Lang performed recently at the BBC Proms, he wanted to be closer to the audience. So he put the piano on the main floor of Royal Albert Hall, instead of up on the stage. We'll hear three pieces that were part of his solo piano recital, two Rachmaninoff preludes and a Chopin etude.

Fred Child sits down in the studio with the members of the Academy of Ancient Music to talk about their authentic approach to Mozart, and how Mozart's writing for violin was influenced by the instruments of the era...and by his father. Violinist Giuliano Carmignola joins them for a Mozart Violin Concerto and Rondo.

We'll go to the Concertgebouw to hear an outstanding performances by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. Roberto Benzi is the conductor for a performance of Debussy's "Three Images for Orchestra."