A Night at the Symphony

All Russian was the program:
 Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky.

Quick and loud and hard to follow
 Around the curves made by the arcing bows weaving the air.

The guest pianist: quick and loud,

Obeying Rachmaninoff’s quaint notation.

The entire orchestra: quick and loud,

But soft where the Russians had mellowed

To their romantic passion

To temper their violent nationalism

With meadows ripe with grain. 

--March 23, 2013