Word: beethovens
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...unlike the experimental dabblings of his early years, it displayed a fresh and distinctive style that is the mark of a maturing artist. Choreographed to three of Beethoven's last quartets, Orbs is a kind of astronaughty tour of love and life on the planets. In the Venusian Spring segment, the Sun God (Taylor) conducts a primer course in lovemaking, repeatedly stroking his loins until two couples get the idea and engage in a "micro-orgy." This leads to Martian Summer, in which the Sun God, wearing a mask on the back of his head, is by sudden twists...
...BEETHOVEN: MISSA SOLEMNIS (2 LPs; Angel). Otto Klemperer conducts the New Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus in a surging declaration of faith that should sweep away all earlier versions of the work, including his own. A second new recording, by Herbert von Karajan (on Deutsche Grammophon), approaches the music more humanly and pleadingly -and the effect is surprisingly persuasive. His orchestra is the Berlin Philharmonic and two soloists are especially fine: Gundula Janowitz and Christa Ludwig. For majesty, take Klemperer; for beauty, Von Karajan...
...most of the U.S. economy, output per man-hour increases 21% annually, doubles every three decades. Live performance is not subject to labor-saving breakthroughs-it takes four musicians 40 minutes to play Beethoven's String Quartet, No. 14, just as it did when it was written in 1826. Thus, while wage increases in an industry such as auto manufacturing are at least partially offset by productivity increases, matching raises in performers' salaries, to say nothing of other production expenses, can only lead to higher costs...
Whenever the Bach Society Orchestra performs, it leaves an ambiguous impression: it is never clear whether it is a chamber group, a small symphony orchestra, or simply a label under which disparate musical activities take place. The first half of last Saturday's concert ranged from Beethoven's Coriolanus Overture to the same composer's Wind Octet, Opus 103. Conductor Daniel Hathaway kept the orchestra precisely together throughout Coriolanus, but many of the opportunities for playing back and forth between parts were muffed. He might have had better luck at a faster tempo. However, the orchestra's total sound...
...Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is less revealing than the Bach, but it needs if anything more attention and imagination to be successful. It got both in what was a truly stirring performance. The strings might have played together a larger proportion of the time, and the kaleidoscopic changes of mood, especially in the first movement, might have been handled more nimbly. But these are quibbles; this year's HRO sounds extremely good, better than any of the last few years, and clearly prepared and executed the Beethoven, and indeed the whole concert, with both care and ability...