COMING UP ON NPR's PERFORMANCE TODAY: FEBRUARY 13--FEBRUARY 22, 1999

Saturday, FEBRUARY 13

Hour 1-- Milestones of the Millennium--Chant: We continue our countdown
to the year 2001 with the fifth installment of PT's "Milestones of the
Millennium." Host Martin Goldsmith and guest commentator Father J.F.
Weber, an active Catholic priest and expert on liturgical music, will
discuss the music of the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic Church, which
forms the bedrock of Western classical music.  We'll also trace the modern
uses of one of the most famous chants of all--"Dies Irae," or "Day of
Wrath."

Hour 2-- Richter on film: Martin talks with director Bruno Monsaingeon,
the director of the new biographical film "Richter: The Enigma," which
has just been released on video.  Sviatoslav Richter was one of the finest
pianists of the century, but he spent much of his career in the Soviet
Union and didn't seek out the publicity and attention that other major
artists crave.  Monsaingeon explains how he persuaded the reclusive pianist
to agree to the project in 1995, two years before he died, and how he
uncovered rare and astounding concert footage of the pianist.

Sunday, FEBRUARY 14

Hour 1-- The Music of Love: Today is Valentine's Day, and we'll get into
the spirit with music from Jean Phillipe Rameau's appropriately titled "The
Surprises of Love," performed by the New York Collegium.  And we'll catch
up with Shakespeare in Love: Yoshimi Takeda and the Kalamazoo Symphony
play four movements from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet suite "Romeo and
Juliet."

Hour 2-- Basic Tosca: PT critic Ted Libbey joins Martin for a visit to
the PT Basic Record Library to focus on an important composition of this
century.  Today they discuss, and Ted recommends, recordings of an opera
that ushered in the 1900s--Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, which premiered in Rome
on January 14, 1900.

Monday, FEBRUARY 15

Hour 1-- The Power of the Music Critic: Some of the most important people
in music have never lifted a baton.  Martin discusses the role of the music
critic with Mark N.  Grant, the author of "Maestros of the Pen: A History
of Classical Music Criticism in America." (Northeastern University Press)

Hour 2-- American Orchestras: From the Portland Center for the Performing
Arts, conductor James DePreist and the Oregon Symphony perform Danish
composer Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 5.

Tuesday, FEBRUARY 16

Hour 1-- Strauss from the National Gallery: Violinist Nai-Yuan Hu sets
up his performance of the soaring Violin Sonata by Richard Strauss at the
National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Hour 2-- To Cough or not to Cough: Classical music concerts and coughing
often seem to be inseparable partners, especially during the cold and flu
season.  How does all that hacking affect the performers onstage? PT
commentator and violist Miles Hoffman talks about what it's like to play
to a coughing audience--and why he thinks musicians should tune it out.

Wednesday, FEBRUARY 17

Hour 1-- Milestones of the Millennium--Masters of the Renaissance: We
continue our countdown to the year 2001 with the eighth installment of PT's
"Milestones of the Millennium." Today Martin and early music scholar David
Fallows focus on the Renaissance, a pivotal age in which music became a
formal art with sophisticated techniques and increasingly complex
structures.

Hour 2-- Live from Studio 4A--I Musici de Montreal: Martin welcomes
conductor Yuli Turovsky and the14 members of the chamber orchestra I Musici
de Montreal to Studio 4A.  They'll perform music by Mozart, Tchaikovsky,
and Jose Evangelista.

Thursday, FEBRUARY 18

Hour 1-- Martin talks with biographer Adrienne Fried Block about "Amy
Beach: Passionate Victorian," her new book about the life of the American
composer (Oxford University Press).

Hour 2-- Basic Prokofiev: PT critic Ted Libbey joins Martin for their
weekly visit to the PT Basic Record Library.  Today Ted recommends three
outstanding recordings of another important composition of this
century--Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1.

Friday, FEBRUARY 19

Hour 1-- TBA

Hour 2--The "Intimate Voices" of Sibelius: From a January 25th concert in
Portland Oregon, the Emerson String Quartet performs the Quartet in D
minor, "Intimate Voices," by Jean Sibelius.

Monday, FEBRUARY 22, 1999

Hour 1--Winning records: We'll run down the winners on the classical side
of the 1999 Grammy Awards.

Hour 2-- American Orchestras: In this hour, we'll hear an outstanding
performance by a US orchestra.

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