In Viennese waltzes, BSO welcomes new year with promise and joy

Playing Viennese waltzes on or around New Year's Eve is a curious custom -- the music was not written with that event in mind -- but has become a reliable seller that most orchestras embrace. So it was that hundreds of music lovers fought the traffic and the brutal weather Thursday to hear the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (the concert started 20 minutes late, as not all of the musicians had made it to the hall).