Performance Today®

Sergei Rachmaninoff's creative output can serve as a reminder never to give up. He wrote dozens and dozens of great works as a young man. In the last 25 years of his life, only a handful. He thought his composing days were over. But his very last work turned out to be one of the greatest he ever wrote. We'll hear Rachmaninoff's swan song, his Symphonic Dances, from a concert in Paris.

Pianist Helene Grimaud says Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto is "totally exhilarating" for both soloist and listeners alike. She says that when she plays it, "It's like he's right there." Meaning Beethoven, of course. We'll hear Helene Grimaud channeling Beethoven, when she performs the Emperor Concerto in Beethoven's home town of Bonn, Germany. Plus, birthday wishes to composers Franz Schubert and Philip Glass.

This weekend, we'll feature a two-part special event: music and conversation with composer Philip Glass. Glass joined PT host Fred Child for a live event in New York City. He talked about composers who've inspired him, his own experience of writing music, even his early days as a New York cabbie. The Glass Chamber Players, Trio Solisti, and violinist Maria Bachmann perform music by Glass and Maurice Ravel.

Today we'll feature part two of music and conversation with composer Philip Glass, from a live event in New York. Host Fred Child asks Glass to describe what the experience of composing is about. Glass responds with one word, "fear," and talks about the audacity of composing, given the rich history of music that's come before him. The Glass Chamber Players and Trio Solisti perform music by Glass and Ravel.

There's an urban legend about composer Philip Glass. The one about him driving a New York City cab just when his first opera was being staged at the Met. A passenger looked at his cabbie's license, and declared that he had the same name as a famous opera composer. Turns out, it's true. Glass says he didn't have the heart to tell her that famous composer was driving her home. Today and tomorrow, tune in for music and conversation with Glass from New York's Caspary Auditorium, hosted by Fred Child.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at age 17 was already nearly halfway through his life. Sergei Prokofiev at age 30 was also at about the halfway mark. Both were brash young men, risk-takers, convinced of their own greatness, perhaps even of their own immortality. In today's show, concertos by the 17-year-old Mozart and the 30-year-old Prokofiev, in great performances by violinist Steven Copes and pianist Yefim Bronfman.

Cellist Wendy Warner and pianist Irina Nuzova join host Fred Child in the PT studios for conversation and music. Russian music, in particular. The duo has a new CD out featuring Russian cello music. Warner and Nuzova talk about what makes these pieces so special, and about the musical chemistry they felt the first time they played together.

The story of Daphnis and Chloe goes back about 2000 years. He's a young goatherd, she's a young shepherdess. They know nothing about love, but they manage to learn a thing or two along the way. In 1912, Maurice Ravel wrote a ballet, setting this coming-of-age love story to music that's astonishing, ravishing. Nowadays, you're more likely to hear Daphnis and Chloe in a concert hall than at the ballet. In today's show, we'll hear a performance by the Radio France Philharmonic.

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."