Two hundred and thirty-nine years ago, the Continental Congress of colonial America said, "That's it. We're going our own way." France offered support, followed by Spain and the Netherlands. On this weekend's Performance Today, we'll hear music for Independence Day; patriotic music by Americans and composers from other nations who admired American ideals.
All summer long, we're featuring great music inspired by distinctive American places on our PT Summer Road Trip. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll stop in the Pacific Northwest to hear a piece by Wayne Horvitiz called "Thursday, at Dusk, In Spokane, Washington."
Music can be beautiful -- but it can also be practical. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth perform a variety of virtuosic music, as well as a serene melody based on the traditional Norwegian cow call.
In instrumentation, the Turtle Island Quartet looks like a typical string quartet: two violins, viola and cello. But in terms of sound, this group is anything but typical. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll go to Seattle to hear The Turtle Island Quartet playing "Alex in A Major," a new piece by their founding violinist, David Balakrishnan.
On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear the epic grandeur and the playful wit of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition from a concert in Houston. Plus, English pianist Stephen Hough performs music by Claude Debussy.
The Bergen Philharmonic takes its Norwegian composers very seriously. So when the orchestra performs Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto, the selection of the pianist is extremely important. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear their choice, as Dutchman Ronald Brautigam gives a thrilling performance of the concerto in concert with the Bergen Philharmonic.
The Performance Today tour of the Danube River is currently underway; Fred Child and PT listeners are off exploring musical landmarks. This weekend, we'll follow their path -- musically -- with a quintet written by Mozart while he lived in Salzburg. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week's Piano Puzzler.
While Fred is away in Vienna, we've decided to take a musical trip there too. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear Franz von Suppe's Light Cavalry Overture; music about a wealthy Austrian baron, his love affair with a Hungarian countess, and the antics of her court, the "light" cavalry.
On Thursday's Performance Today, we have concert highlights large and small. We'll head to Lincoln Center to hear the New York Philharmonic play big music by Anton Bruckner. And we'll go to Chattanooga, Tennessee for a set of smaller preludes -- music for clarinet and piano by Alexander Scriabin.
