Poster Portrait of composer and chemist Alexander Borodin
Portrait of composer and chemist Alexander Borodin by Ilya Repin
Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain
Performance Today®

Borodin's chemistry

Composer Alexander Borodin toiled away on an opera for 18 years, but he never finished it. Get the story, then hear the overture to Borodin's unfinished opera, on this edition of Performance Today.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Richard Wagner: Romanza (Albumblatt)
Elissa Lee Koljonen, violin; Robert Koenig, piano
Heartbreak, Romantic Encores for Violin
Dorian 90268

Reinhold Gliere: Huit Morceaux for violin and cello, Op. 39
DuoSkope: Evin Blomberg, violin; Natalie Helm, cello
Hoxa HQ studio in West Hampstead, London, United Kingdom

Piano Puzzler: This week's contestant Jason Carr from Philadelphia, PA

Richard Wagner: Siegfried Idyll
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; Marek Janowski, conductor
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Music Hall, Cincinnati, OH

Hour 2

Richard Strauss: Wiegenlied (Lullaby)
Renee Fleming, soprano; Houston Symphony; Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
4 Last Songs - Orchesterlieder - Der Rosenkavalier Suite
RCA 68539

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet No. 40 in F Major, Op. 50, No. 5 "The Dream"
Omer Quartet
Honest Brook Music Festival, Honest Brook Farm, Delaware County, New York

Alexander Borodin: Overture to Prince Igor
Houston Symphony; Vassily Sinaisky, conductor
Houston Symphony; Jones Hall, Houston, TX

George Walker: Sonata for Piano No. 1
Redi Llupa, piano
George Walker's 95th year Celebration, Hatch Recital Hall, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, 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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