Performance Today®

Pianist Wu Han joins us for a pair of musical conversations today. First, she discusses and performs the first half of Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons" in Washington, D.C. Then we'll go to Colorado's Aspen Festival, where she's joined by cellist David Finckel for the world premiere performance of Pierre Jalbert's Cello Sonata.

They've both been accused of being visually distracting with their onstage mannerisms, but they're still outstanding players. Olli Mustonen and Andre Watts will demonstrate their artistry with works of two Viennese contemporaries. Mustonen plays Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto in Hamburg with Kirill Petrenko and the North German Radio Symphony. And Watts plays three pieces by Schubert in Fort Worth, Texas.

For decades, Jon Lord was the keyboard player for Deep Purple, the British rock band that brought you "Smoke on the Water,""Hush" and "Woman from Tokyo." But now he's concentrating on classical composition. Today's show features the second half of a two-part conversation with Lord, as well as the second movement of his orchestral work, "Disguises," performed by Paul Mann and the Odense Sinfoniorkester.

Jon Lord has crossed over from the rock world into the classical world. A founding member of the rock band Deep Purple, he's now a composer. Today Fred sits down for a chat with Lord about his music. Plus, we'll hear the final movement of Lord's piano concerto, "Boom of the Tingling Strings."

Igor Stravinsky borrowed all of the tunes from his ballet, "Pulcinella" from Italian music of the eighteenth century. But he put his own musical fingerprints on it. It's a delightful mix of old and new. We'll hear a performance of the Suite from Pulcinella from the New York Philharmonic.

When chamber music lovers visit the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, they don't know what's being played at the afternoon chamber music concerts until they see the program written on a chalkboard outside the Memminger Auditorium. And what a delight it must have been to see a masterpiece like Beethoven's Septet for Winds and Strings listed there a couple of weeks ago. We'll have that performance on today's show.

Summer has finally arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. We're celebrating with music of the summer season in both hours of Performance Today. Everyone from violinist Joshua Bell to pianist Lang Lang will be turning up the heat with great performances. Plus, we'll hear two versions of the same work, George Gershwin's beautiful "Summertime."

Today is the first day of the Aspen Music Festival. Every summer, some of the greatest classical musicians in the world gather in Aspen, Colorado. To celebrate the opening of the festival, we'll hear a performance from last year's festival. Gil Shaham performs Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Aspen Chamber Symphony.

The Beaux Arts Trio's days may be drawing to a close, but fortunately much-loved pianist Menahem Pressler has no plans to retire. One of the greatest chamber musicians of our time, a concert at Lincoln Center featuring him was billed as "The Pressler Connection." We'll hear a performance of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet from that concert.

Franz Schubert never got around to finishing his eighth symphony. He wrote the first two movements, and never completed the last two. Today, we'll hear what those final two movements might have sounded like, as envisioned by composer Anton Safronov. What would Schubert have thought of it? Find out in the second hour of Performance Today.