Performance Today®

Poet Rita Dove has a new book about Beethoven, his best friend in 1803, and the piece they premiered together. Beethoven wrote an astonishing sonata inspired by the virtuosity of mulatto violinist George Bridgetower. But over drinks the two friends got into a fight, Beethoven took Bridgetower's name off the music...and they never spoke again. Rita Dove has re-imagined their relationship in her new book, "Sonata Mulattica." She joins Fred to guide us through their story, and through the piece that's become known as Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata.

We remember Cincinnati Pops conductor Erich Kunzel, who died Tuesday at age 74. Plus, Purcell from the Proms in London. Robert Spano guest-conducts the Cleveland Orchestra in a concert performance of the Mathis der Maler Symphony by Paul Hindemith. And Bruce Adolphe joins Fred in the studio for this week's Piano Puzzler.

American mezzo-soprano Susan Graham sang at the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy this past weekend. She joins Fred to talk about the experience. And we'll hear Graham at the 2009 BBC Proms, the summer music festival in London, sing a heart-breakingingly beautiful love song by Reynaldo Hahn, "A Chloris."

In Ravel's Bolero, the lead snare drummer plays a simple pattern 168 times in a row, gradually getting louder for 16 minutes. It's a study in deep concentration, and percussionist David Corkhill has it mastered. From a concert two weeks ago at the Royal Albert Hall in London, rock-solid David Corkhill and the rest of the Philharmonia Orchestra give a riveting performance of Bolero.

Karen Geoghegan was 19 years old, and bored. So she signed up to take part in "Classical Star," a TV talent show for young classical musicians in England. As a bassoonist, her expectations were low...but to her surprise she made the final round, and came in second during a live national TV broadcast. She's become something of a celebrity in the UK, she has a record contract, and three weeks ago made her debut at the big summer music festival in London, the Proms. We'll hear the now 21 year-old Karen Geoghegan give a knockout performance of Mozart's Bassoon Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Every Friday, Performance Today features 21st century music. This week: "Lunar Reflections" by 35 year-old Canadian composer Heather Schmidt. It's not in five movements, Schmidt says it's in five "moons." From the delicate beauty of a "February Snow Moon" to the clangorous energy of a "July Thunder Moon." We'll hear the world premiere, from a concert in Toronto by the Gryphon Trio.

The second movement is some of the most calming, comforting music ever written, and the third movement is a raucous party scene. It's Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, the "Emperor" Concerto. Arnaldo Cohen at the piano, Michael Palmer conducting the Bellingham Festival Orchestra, at the Bellingham Festival of Music, in Washington state. Plus listener comments and calls about 21st century music, about "Bravo Man," and about an *alleged* Tartini Adagio.

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone to guess the tune, and the composer Bruce is mimicking. Even if you're not the one calling this week, play along! See if YOU can guess the tune and the composer, in our Piano Puzzler.

Susanna Malkki was the only woman in her conducting class in Helsinki ten years ago, but she doesn't want to talk about being a female conductor. Malkki says "If I forget about it then others may forget about it too." Malkki led the BBC Symphony Orchestra last month at the BBC Proms in London, in a lean and rhythmically-charged performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 4.