Word: basses
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Typical of the tricks played is a passage near the beginning where oboe and double bass are in the usual baroque soprano-to-bass opposition. Suddenly the bass drops away but a listener cannot but help hear the implied harmonies in the highly regular resolution. More lighthearted is the duet between trombone and double bass just before the final trio. The two glissandi in the trombone theme are terribly funny and the audience appreciated it. In general, the orchestral playing was of consistently high calibre, belying the technical difficulties of Pulcinella...
...Stewart's pieces were given premieres last Friday: his Pie Jesu (1965) and The Windhover (1971), a setting of the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem. The latter was by far the better piece. Beginning and ending with female voices only in tone clusters, it calls for seven winds and string bass--all of which were first rate. There is some use of klangfarbenmelodie, the production of a melodic line with varied tone colors, but only with the instruments, not the chorus. The piece owes something to very late Stravinsky, though, and not to Schoenberg or Webern...
...phenomenal player: his pitch is dead accurate. He complements subtle shadings of tone and fine techniques with beautiful phrasing that never is broken in awkward moments for breathing. The supremely beautiful moment of the Suite is the Double of the Polonaise: the theme of the Polonaise appears in the bass (played as if a solo part by Harnoncourt himself) with an incredibly florid counterpoint in the flute part. The beauty and care taken by Harnoncourt in his accompaniment is outstanding. The usual fate of this section is to have a frantic virtuoso display by the flutist over a barely-audible...
...Fourth Suites are notable for their employment of the baroque trumpet and baroque tympani (the latter, too, different from its contemporary). The Fourth Suite has three competing choirs (in best concertato style): the strings, oboes and bassoons, and trumpets and tympani. The concept of tympani acting as a bass instrument (as legitimate as bassoon, cello, or violone) is foreign to us; but the particular sound of these drums (partly from the use of ivory mallets without felt) gives them a much brighter tone that blends with the trumpets...
...Hard Rain's Gonna Fall," "It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry," "Blowin' in the Wind," "Mr. Tambourine Man," and "Just Like a Woman." In his backup band are George Harrison on electric guitar, Ringo Starr on tambourine, and Leon Russel on bass. Singing in his new voice, Dylan fails to evoke the emotion and commitment he once did. Too bad he didn't play "George Jackson...