5 MARCH

This marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sergei Sergeiivich Prokofiev. It took me a very long time to get to appreciate, not to say tolerate, his music. If every grammar school teacher I ever had were not convinced that regular exposure to “Peter and the Wolf” was as vital to my development as good nutrition things might have been otherwise. I really hated that piece. I never intentionally listened to another note of Prokofiev’s.

And then one day the late and greatly lamented KFAC played his classical symphony. A revelation. The classical symphony was the door to Prokofiev. No longer was there a rush for the “off” button when his music was announced. He will never be a favorite and I can still very happily miss “Peter and the Wolf”. But “Romeo and Juliet”, “The Lieutenant Kizheh Suite”, and much else I find to be well worth the listening.

While on the subject of well-known Russians, this is also the 50th anniversary of the death of Joseph Stalin, a politician.