Gershwin-Grofé redux

One of the highlights of Marin Alsop's years as associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony came on Oct. 17, 1988, when she led George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" in its original jazz-band orchestration by Ferde Grofé and the Piano Concerto in F in the rarely heard version that Grofé prepared (against the composer's wishes) for Paul Whiteman. Alsop subsequently made an EMI Classics recording of Grofé's version of the concerto with pianist Leslie Stifelman, who had been the piano soloist in the Richmond concert.

Alsop is presenting much the same program this weekend with the Baltimore Symphony and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

The Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith reviews the first night:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/11/marin_alsop_jeanyves_thibaudet.html#more

Subsequent performances are on Nov. 14 at Meyerhoff Hall in Baltimore, Nov. 15 at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD, near Washington.

Details: www.bsomusic.org