Harbison, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev- Robert Kirzinger, narrated by Eleanor McGourty

Published: Oct. 26, 2018, 1 p.m.

BSO Associate Conductor Ken-David Masur is joined by outstanding American pianist Garrick Ohlsson for a work heard relatively rarely despite the popularity of its composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1. The early First Concerto exhibits the same spirit of Russian lyricism and virtuosity found in his perennially popular Second and Third concertos. Opening the program is John Harbison's Jazz Age-flavored foxtrot "Remembering Gatsby", an orchestral work foreshadowing his acclaimed opera based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby". This is one of several Harbison works this season celebrating the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston-based composer's 80th birthday year. Closing the program are excerpts from Prokofiev's ballet score "Romeo and Juliet", which includes some of the composer's best-known music.