Barenboim talks about what it means to be free and how Beethoven’s view of freedom differs from that which some of us hold.

Andras Schiff plays Schumann’s quasi-autobiographical Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, a schizophrenic, jumpy set of character pieces for the piano.

Paul Hindemith conducts his own Konzertmusik for Strings and Brass, Op. 50. A work with a lot to offer.

Van Cliburn plays Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto no. 3, one of the pieces that propelled him through the Tchaikovsky Competition and to his subsequent fame.

Evgeny Kissin plays Sgambati’s transcription of a melody from Gluck’s Orfeo.

Maria Callas sings “Un bel di vedremo” from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.

Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, boldly marks the composer’s proclivity for embedding into his work the characters of his life. Commentators over the years have seeked to find the hidden codes within the composition by comparing it to the works of composers and musicians in Schumann’s circle, particularly his eventual wife Clara, who was, at the time of composition of Opus 6, still only to Schumann the daughter of his piano instructor, Friedrich Wieck. Clara, allegedly, wrote something that served as the model for the motive found in the first few measures of the entire Davidsbündlertänze.

Rest in peace, Van Cliburn.

I can’t even think this fast. Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin team up for Rimsky’s “Flight of the Bumblebee.”