Poster Maurizio Pollini
Maurizio Pollini
wikipedia.org
Performance Today®

Making sense of the music

Pianist Maurizio Pollini says it's his job as a performer to "make the sense clear: the necessity of the notes." Not just to get the notes right or even just to make them expressive or beautiful. He says he has to convince the listener of the rightness of what the composer wrote, so that it sounds as if no other notes could possibly follow. We think Pollini does a convincing job on Mozart's Piano Concerto Number 12, in a performance with the Vienna Philharmonic.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Felix Blumenfeld: Etude for the Left Hand Alone, Op. 36
Pianist Michael Ponti
Newport Music Festival, Newport, Rhode Island

Sir Edward Elgar: Third movement from Violin Sonata in E Minor, Op. 82, and "Salut d'Amore," Op. 12
Violinist Nai-Yuan Hu and pianist John Lenehan
Newport Music Festival, Newport, Rhode Island

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414
Pianist and conductor Maurizio Pollini with the Vienna Philharmonic
Musikverein, Vienna, Austria

Enrique Granados: "El mirar de la Maja" ("The Gaze of the Maja")
Mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and pianist Steven Blier
Caramoor International Music Festival, Katonah, New York

Enrique Granados: Fourth movement from Trio for violin, cello, and piano, Op. 50, H. 140
Violinist Jennifer Frautschi, cellist Jiri Barta and pianist Daniel del Pino
Newport Music Festival, Newport, Rhode Island

Hour 2

John Adams: "Short Ride in a Fast Machine"
The City of Birmingham Symphony with conductor Simon Rattle

Joseph Haydn: Finale from String Quartet in B-flat, Op. 50, No.1
The Doric String Quartet
Wigmore Hall, London, England

Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F, Op. 90
The Berlin Philharmonic with conductor Simon Rattle
Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany

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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.

Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

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