Poster Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Wikimedia Commons
Performance Today®

Elgar's Cello Concerto

Edward Elgar composed almost nothing during the First World War. He said: "I cannot do any real work with this awful shadow hanging over us." But, after four years of mechanized death on a scale the world had never seen, he began writing his Cello Concerto. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear that piece from a concert in Los Angeles.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Josquin des Prez (arr. Raymond Mase): Chansons
American Brass Quintet
BPL Chamber Players Concert Series, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY

Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
Truls Mork, cello; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA

Nikolai Medtner: Canzona serenata, from Forgotten Melodies, Op. 38
Nikolai Lugansky, piano
Konzerthaus, Vienna, Austria

Hour 2

Bela Fleck: Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
Bela Fleck, banjo; Abigail Washburn, banjo
Savannah Music Festival, Lucas Theatre for the Arts, Savannah, GA

Felix Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words, Op. 19 No. 1
Sean Lee, violin; Peter Dugan, piano
The Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, The Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach, FL

Felix Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words, Op. 30 No. 4
Sean Lee, violin; Peter Dugan, piano
The Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, The Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach, FL

Sergei Rachmaninoff (arr. Jascha Heifetz): It's Peaceful Here
Sean Lee, violin; Peter Dugan, piano
The Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, The Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach, FL

Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39: Movements 2-4
Houston Symphony; John Storgards, conductor
Jones Hall, Houston, TX

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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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