Performance Today®

Pianist Martha Argerich is one of those rare artists who works outside the established system. She signs no contracts, plays when and where and what she chooses, frequently cancelling performances at the last minute. And yet she inspires a reverent adoration in her many fans, who refer to her as Madame Argerich. In today's show, Madame Argerich plays Chopin's First Piano Concerto, from a concert in Warsaw. Plus, we'll have late-breaking news regarding the fate of the financially-troubled Philadelphia Orchestra.

Gustav Mahler had a deep love and appreciation for the natural world. He also had a pretty good opinion of himself. When a friend came to visit him at his summer home in the Austrian countryside, the friend stopped to admire the spectacular scenery. Mahler waved his hand impatiently. "Don't bother looking at the view," he said. "I've already composed it." We'll go to a concert by the New York Philharmonic to hear some of Mahler's larger-than-life music, part of his Third Symphony.

Mozart called him Don Giovanni. A heartless womanizer, he was a rogue and a cad, with no sense of remorse. But Richard Strauss called him Don Juan, and gave him a soul. The story behind Strauss' great tone poem, Don Juan, is in today's show, along with a performance by Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In today's show, music and conversation with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, on stage with Fred Child at the Virginia Arts Festival. She's only 28 years old, but plays with the depth of emotion and understanding of someone who's been around for much longer than that. A knockout performance at last summer's BBC Proms had one critic comparing her to the great Mstislav Rostropovich. We'll hear her play selections by Osvaldo Golijov and Johann Sebastian Bach in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Vienna's Musikverein is one of those spectacular old European concert halls. The walls and ceilings shimmer with real gold. And the acoustics are every bit as magnificent as the decor. Up until recently, pianist Lang Lang had never played there. He finally got his chance, playing a solo recital that included Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata. It's in today's show. Plus, we'll hear a performance from the Musikverein from a special New Year's Day concert. Daniel Barenboim and the Vienna Philharmonic rattled those golden walls and ceilings with Johann Strauss, Jr.'s "Thunder and Lightning Polka."

Benjamin Britten drew from his own experience of the sea when writing his opera Peter Grimes. Britten grew up on the wild and unpredictable North Sea coast, and it shows in his music. He painted a portrait of the benevolence and malevolence of the sea as only one who knows it well can. In today's show, Mark Elder leads the Halle Orchestra in Four Sea Interludes from Britten's Peter Grimes.

Peter Tchaikovsky's violin concerto had a rocky start. The first two violinists who tried to master it gave up. The third gave the work its premiere, but was panned by critics. One said the soloist had not so much played the violin as "torn it apart, pounded it black and blue." Nowadays, the Tchaikovsky concerto is an audience favorite, a staple in every violinist's repertoire. We'll hear one of the best, Christian Tetzlaff, in concert with the Montreal Symphony.

Aaron Copland was working on a new project in 1944, a collaboration with choreographer Martha Graham. There was a rough story line about a young couple starting out married life in rural Pennsylvania. But the ballet didn't have a name, so Copland called it simply, Ballet for Martha. Only at the last minute did it get its real name, Appalachian Spring. In today's show, we'll hear Aaron Copland getting a good chuckle out of the story (from a 1980 interview), and a performance from Los Angeles.

Benjamin Britten drew from his own experience of the sea when writing his opera Peter Grimes. Britten grew up on the wild and unpredictable North Sea coast, and it shows in his music. He painted a portrait of the benevolence and malevolence of the sea as only one who knows it well can. In today's show, Mark Elder leads the Halle Orchestra in Four Sea Interludes from Britten's Peter Grimes.