Performance Today®

The fourth season of "Downton Abbey" begins on Sunday, and in anticipation we'll hear from Scottish composer John Lunn, who has written music for the series. And since "Downton Abbey" is set in early 20th century England, we'll also sample some early 20th century English music on this weekend's Performance Today.

The fourth season of "Downton Abbey" begins this weekend, so on Friday's Performance Today we'll hear from Scottish composer John Lunn, who has written music for the series. And since "Downton Abbey" is set in early 20th century England, we'll sample some early 20th century English music as well.

On Thursday's Performance Today we'll hear some of the most memorable concert moments ever recorded, including Vladimir Horowitz at Carnegie Hall in 1965, Leonard Bernstein celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich performing in the USSR in 1990.

On New Year's Day 1886, Franz Liszt wrote "this will be an unlucky year for me." How did he know? On Wednesday's Performance Today we'll have lots of celebratory music for the new year, and a story about a composer who made a New Year's prediction that turned out to be spot on.

At the annual New Year's concert in Vienna, the hall is even more resplendent than usual and the music is light and fun. Conductor Franz Welser-Most had the baton this year, which he says is tremendous fun despite being "the most stressful experience you can have in a conductor's life." He'll explain more on Tuesday's Performance Today, and we'll hear some New Year's concert highlights featuring Franz Welser-Most and the Vienna Philharmonic.

Rudolf Buchbinder grew up in a house with a piano, despite the fact that no one in his family played music. That piano became a source of inspiration for Buchbinder, who has grown up to have a tremendous career as a pianist. We'll hear him play Beethoven on Monday's Performance Today.

How many jokes still work after more than 200 years? If performed as the composer intended, the silly joke at the end of Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 90 never fails to get a laugh. We'll hear a performance of this piece featuring Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic on this weekend's Performance Today.

Richard Wagner's operas are so over-the-top, they're sometimes an inch away from being self-parodies. On Friday's Performance Today we'll hear the Cleveland Orchestra give a serious (and seriously great) performance of the Ride of the Valkyries, plus a bit of humor courtesy of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

How many jokes still work after more than 200 years? If performed as the composer intended, the silly joke at the end of Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 90 never fails to get a laugh. We'll hear a performance of this piece featuring Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic on Thursday's Performance Today.