Performance Today®

The combination of an unusually thin skin and some particularly sharp digs by critics completely deflated Sergei Rachmaninoff, and sent him into a tailspin after the premiere of his first symphony. One reviewer at the premiere compared it to the seven plagues of Egypt. Times and tastes have changed since then, and audiences today love it. Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra give a rousing performance of this diamond in the rough, from a recent concert in Minneapolis.

A master pianist and one of the world's great orchestras rendezvous in a magnificent concert hall to play a Mozart concerto together. We'll go to Vienna to hear Maurizio Pollini play Mozart's Piano Concerto Number 12 at the Musikverein, with the Vienna Philharmonic. Plus, cellist Steven Isserlis plays a concerto by Saint-Saens with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis has been called one of the most beautiful pieces of the 20th century. It's in today's show, from a performance at one of the most beautiful spots in the U.S., the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Plus, violinist Joshua Bell plays a Beethoven Romance with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

It was the opportunity of a lifetime, but it was also something a seasoned veteran might have to think twice about before agreeing to. Pianist Conrad Tao is seasoned, but he's also only 17. Still, when the call went out for a last-minute substitute for an ailing pianist, Tao jumped at the chance to give a solo recital on one day's notice. In today's show, Tao's talks about his last-minute solo recital in Fort Worth. And we'll hear from the performance that had Texas critics raving.

In the first half of the 20th century, thousands of children and young adults were stricken with polio. One of them was violinist Itzhak Perlman, who lost much of the use of his legs when he contracted polio at age 4. Perlman joined host Fred Child recently to talk about his experience with polio, and to discuss efforts at worldwide eradication of the disease. And we'll hear him in a performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

It was the opportunity of a lifetime, but it was also something a seasoned veteran might have to think twice about before agreeing to. Pianist Conrad Tao is seasoned, but he's also only 17. Still, when the call went out for a last-minute substitute for an ailing pianist, Tao jumped at the chance to give a solo recital on one day's notice. In today's show, Tao's talks about his last-minute solo recital in Fort Worth. And we'll hear from the performance that had Texas critics raving.

When he was in his late 50s, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius' creative well was running dry. If only Sibelius himself could have dried out, he might have written more. An alcohol-fueled depression seemed to be at the root of the problem. In today's show a fellow Finn, conductor Osmo Vanska, leads the Minnesota Orchestra in Sibelius' final major work, his Symphony Number 6.

A Chinese folk tale became music in the hands of composers Chen Gang and He Zhanhao. Some have called it the Chinese Romeo and Juliet, a story of two star-crossed lovers. After violinist Gil Shaham heard it for the first time, he decided that he wanted to share this beautiful piece with the world. He's joined by Lan Shui and the Singapore Symphony for the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto.

This week, we welcome all our new listeners in and around Boston. PT is now being carried by Classical New England in Boston. In today's show, we'll feature great performances by James Levine and the Boston Symphony, and pay visits to the Boston Early Music Festival and the New England Conservatory, representing just a part of the vibrant arts scene in this historic city.