Poster Vacuum cleaner
Vacuum cleaner that combines a brush and a suction pump. Image from Popular Science Monthly, Volume 88 (1916)
Wikimedia Commons
Performance Today®

Music for vacuum and floor polisher

After a holiday weekend, there's often a big clean-up that has to take place. So on Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll help out with a special piece by Malcolm Arnold; his Grand Overture for Vacuum Cleaners, Floor Polisher, and Concert Band.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Ludwig van Beethoven: 5 Variations on "Rule Britannia" in D, WoO 79
Melvyn Tan, fortepiano
The Beethoven Broadwood Fortepiano
EMI 54526

Gioacchino Rossini: Duetto in D Major for Cello and Double Bass
Bion Tsang, cello; DaXun Zhang, double bass
Bates Recital Hall, Butler School of Music, University of Texas, Austin, TX

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 11, Op. 95, "Serioso"
Danish String Quartet
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Rose Studio at Lincoln Center, New York, NY

Malcolm Arnold: A Grand Grand Overture: For Three Vacuum Cleaners, One Floor Polisher, and Concert Band, Op. 57
United States Marine Band; Colonel Michael J. Colburn, conductor
Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria, VA

Hour 2

Maurice Ravel (orch. Narcis Bonet): Three Hebraic Melodies: 2. Mejerke, main Suhn (Chanson Hebraique)
Liat Cohen, guitar Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra Frederic Chaslin, conductor
The Jewish Soul: Liat Cohen, guitar and The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra
Centaur 2537

Felix Mendelssohn (arr. Rachmaninoff): A Midsummer Night's Dream: Scherzo
Vadym Kholodenko, piano
The Cliburn, Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth, TX

Peter Tchaikovsky: Lullaby
Vadym Kholodenko, piano
The Cliburn, Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth, TX

Maurice Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales
Los Angeles Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA

Joaquin Rodrigo: Fantasia para un Gentilhombre
Ekachai Jearakul, guitar; Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; JoAnn Falletta, conductor
JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition, Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY

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About Performance Today®

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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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