Word: ax
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...only did Meave Leakey draw worldwide attention last week for her latest discovery of hom inid fossils, but in addition her husband Richard, trying to address an opposition political rally in the Kenyan town of Nakuru two weeks ago, was among a group beaten by a mob wielding ax handles and whips. As Virginia Morell shows in Ancestral Passions, her splendid new collective biography of the Leakey family (Simon & Schuster; $30), this is no surprise; Leakeys have been prominent and colorful figures in paleontology and Kenyan affairs for almost a century...
...finale returned the BSO to its buoyant promenade-like mode. Ax supplied plenty of exuberance, some perhaps at the cost of the movement's customary nonchalance. The sections resembling the finale of Brahms' Serenade No. 1 in D Major conveyed a perfect innocence, lifting the emotional burden of the journey in the most pleasant way. In all, the performance had been a ride with Ax as driver rather than an emotional outpouring...
This effect, often attributed to performances of Brahms by Rudolf Serkin, was not accompanied by Serkin's occasional dryness. Ax smoothed over transitions between sections rather than making them stark, resulting in a resolute and self-assured delivery. That purposefulness continued in the second section of the first movement, in which Previn added some time for emphasis in the orchestra's tuttis...
...immediacy of Ax's playing extended into the stirring second movement, an Andante in contrast to traditional symphonic and concerto structures. Here Previn could have added some bite to the strings' releases in keeping with Ax's sharp interpretation. Hopeless romantics might have demanded more time in the springlike second section (especially in the chorale-like slow passage reminiscent of Brahms' First Symphony), but Previn joined Ax in propelling the piece forward...
...slow third movement with its melodic but firm cello solos evinced a less single-minded quality in Ax's playing. He often employed a rich, pedaled texture that brought to mind his unhurried and comforting playing of Beethoven's early chamber music...