Don’t hassle the ‘Moff

Haha, whoops!

Today’s post was supposed to be the Composer Cagematch!, but I while writing it yesterday afternoon I accidentally hit “publish” instead of “save draft.” I figured instead of backpedaling I’d just let it roll, so the BSO concert post got to move up a day and on Wednesday I’ll subject you to a brief post about the new store. It kinda ties in; there are Composer Cagematch! t-shirts to discuss.

So this week’s BSO concert is called “Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody.” See, they knew I’d be ready to mock Rach, so they decided to sandwich his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini between two Prokofiev symphonies, causing me to melt into a happy daze and forget whatever mean jab I was about to make about the ‘Moff. The Prokofiev peace offerings are his Symphony No. 1, the “Classical,” and his Symphony No. 6, a reaction to WWII. Color me appeased and intrigued.

Alsop conducts, Lukas Vondracek is your solist, and you can see it at the Meyerhoff on Friday, March 4 at 8 pm and Sunday, March 6 at 3 pm. Or head to Strathmore on Saturday, March 5 at 8 pm. Just concentrate on the Prokofiev, breath through the Rachmaninoff, and you’ll be fine. (BURN! Suck it, “they.”)

Updated to add: The next BSO season lineup has been revealed! Check it out — you’ll want to be able to follow along when I do my rundown.