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

March 14, 2015: Malcolm Arnold's Grand Grand Overture

With winter coming to a close and spring beginning to loom (or bloom) on the horizon, there's often a big clean-up that has to take place. So on this weekend's Performance Today, we'll help out with a special piece by Malcolm Arnold: his Grand Grand Overture for Vacuum Cleaners, Floor Polisher, and Concert Band.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Joseph Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E Flat: 3. Allegro
Mark Bennett, trumpet; English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, conductor
Really Mad about the Classics
DG 445770

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Die tote Stadt, Op. 12
Nicola Benedetti, violin; Alexei Grynyuk, piano
Schwetzingen Festival, Jagdsaal, Schwetzingen, Germany

The Piano Puzzler: This week's contestant is Lauren Cason from Greenville, SC

Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major
Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello; Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Jeffrey Kahane, conductor
Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA

Hour 2

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

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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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