Alexander Scriabin was a musical metaphysician; he genuinely wanted his music to change the world. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll go to Warsaw for a rare performance of Scriabin's Piano Concerto. See if your world is changed; even if only by extending your musical horizons a bit.
When Johannes Brahms sent the manuscript of his Symphony No. 2 to his publisher, he included a note that said: "I have never written anything so sad." As it turned out, Brahms was joking. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear selections of his upbeat second symphony from a concert in Bergen, Norway.
Each week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We then get one of our listeners on the phone to try to guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with our Piano Puzzler, on Wednesday's Performance Today.
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 might be the most popular piece of classical music from the last century and a half. And on Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear it played by Lang Lang, who just might be the most popular classical pianist on the planet at the moment.
Pianist Steven Osborne practices, of course. But he also believes in sometimes getting away from music, in order to broaden his life and avoid impoverishing his musical voice. On Monday's Performance today, we'll hear Osborne give a live performance of several etudes by Rachmaninoff.
The principal cellist, principal violist, and principal associate concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic have put together their own band. They call themselves...what else? The New York Principals. On this weekend's Performance Today, we'll drop in on a recent concert in Palm Beach to hear them play Schubert.
According to conductor Leonard Slatkin, the degree of success that Tchaikovsky achieved is even more remarkable than most people realize. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear Slatkin conduct the Detroit Symphony in Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave.
We will celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a musical tribute to the Emerald Isle...but with a twist. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear two pieces of Irish music without the brogue; the sounds of old Ireland as imagined by American composers John Williams and Chris Brubeck.
Each week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We then get one of our listeners on the phone to try to guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with our Piano Puzzler, on Wednesday's Performance Today.
