Poster J S Bach
J S Bach
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Performance Today®

Taking it out for a Spin

If you've ever had a shiny, brand new car, you may have found yourself volunteering to drive a lot more than you used to. Take the kids to soccer practice? Sure. Go pick up a loaf of bread? Love to. Johann Sebastian Bach was in pretty much the same place in 1719. He had just gotten a shiny, brand new harpsichord, and desperately wanted to take it out for a spin. So he wrote a flashy harpsichord part into the piece he was working on, his Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. We'll hear Bach's shiny new set of wheels, from a concert in Germany.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Leos Janacek: First movement from In the Mists
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

Heinrich Schutz: Three Italian Madrigals
The American Brass Quintet
Aspen Music Festival, Aspen, Colorado

Leos Janacek: Taras Bulba
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, conductor
Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Excerpts from Thirteen Preludes, Op. 13
Claire Huangci, piano
Ansermet Studio, Geneva, Switzerland

Hour 2

Johann Sebastian Bach: First movement from Brandenburg Concerto No. 1
The Marlboro Festival Orchestra, Pablo Casals, conductor

Dan Visconti: Drift of Rainbows
The Scharoun Ensemble Berlin and friends, Michael Hasel, conductor

Dan Visconti: Remembrances
Richard Duven, cello, Majella Stockhausen, piano

Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D , BWV 1050
Emmanuel Pahud, flute, Yuki Kasai, violin, Davide Pozzi, harpsichord, the Potsdam Chamber Academy, Antonello Manacorda, conductor
Nikolai Hall, Potsdam, Germany

Peteris Vasks: Epifania
The Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas, conductor
Blackheads Guild Hall, Tallinn, Estonia

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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.

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