One of the other things I like about the April program is it gives me a chance to talk some to the audience. In researching this, I found some interesting connections between these pieces. During the time ragtime was popular, it was a world-wide craze. Brahms wrote some, and so did Stravinsky. In fact, the last thing Stravinsky wrote before 'A Soldier's Tale' was a ragtime piece, and that helps explain the quirky style of that piece.
Michael Luxner