After composing his string quartet known as "Intimate Voices", Jean Sibelius wrote, "It's the kind of music that brings a smile to your lips at the hour of death." Sibelius had just been diagnosed with cancer - he believed he had been given a death sentence - yet the composer lived another 48 years. Hear the quartet with a life of its own, String Quartet in D minor 'Voces intimae', on Friday's Performance Today.
It's a story of revenge. King Frederick the Great tried to humiliate Johann Sebastian Bach by giving him an awkward tune and asking him to improvise around it. The king was good, but Bach was great. The story and Bach's revenge, played by the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Thursday's Performance Today.
On Wednesday's Performance Today, pianist Mitsuko Uchida plays a quietly dramatic piano concerto by Mozart in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra.
Craig Hella Johnson for years thought about how to respond to the brutal death of Matthew Shepard in 1998. Music helped him cope with the event and that's when he realized this was a Passion story, like the ones composed by Bach, Mendelssohn and Penderecki. Eighteen years later, the vocal ensemble Conspirare brings this music to life.
Music can reflect our greatest hopes, our struggles, and our most profound revelations. The young Richard Strauss was aiming for all of that when he wrote his monumental piece, "Death and Transfiguration." On Tuesday's Performance Today, listen in and experience the emotions of a life on the cusp, from a concert in Copenhagen Denmark. You'll also hear music from "Considering Matthew Shepard", a deeply reflective composition by Craig Hella Johnson, featuring the vocal ensemble Conspirare.
The Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, Massachusetts is an intimate venue with about 330 seats. The stage sits right above the water of the Atlantic Ocean. The music performed onstage is supplemented by the ambience of the world backstage. With this backdrop in mind, join the audience for music by Francis Poulenc and Gabriel Faure in performances from the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, on Monday's Performance Today.
If you listen to Performance today regularly, or are simply a lover of chamber music, you'll likely have heard of Alice Tully Hall, home of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York. Who was Alice Tully? Her story is a life of character, performance, and philanthropy. Find out more about Alice Tully's life and legacy, and hear a performance from her namesake, Alice Tully Hall, on Saturday's Performance Today.
Cal Ripken holds the record for playing in the most consecutive baseball games. Composer Camille Saint-Saens has his version of that record - he composed music in TEN consecutive decades. From the 1830s to the 1920s, Saint-Saens never stopped composing. Listen to Saint-Saens' Sonata for clarinet and piano from a concert at Lincoln Center in New York, on Friday's Performance Today.
Sir Neville Marriner died this past weekend, on Oct. 2, at the age of 92. In 1958, he founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, one of the world's premiere chamber orchestras. He began as a violinist, but is best known for his work as a conductor. It is truly a challenge to imagine a more prolific musical career. On Thursday's Performance Today, Joshua Bell, current Musical Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, reflects on the legacy of Sir Neville Marriner.
