Word: bravura
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This approach does not always make for good movies. An actor's revelation may not be a character's truth; a series of bravura scenes may torpedo the narrative structure. What is meant as a species of cinema verite may too easily become as specious as old-fashioned movie-star acting. Cassavetes is a deadly serious director, but his films are best seen as rickety star vehicles. His most shining star-his Bette Davis, his Gloria Swanson, his Joan Blondell-is his wife Gena Rowlands. In Gloria, he has finally realized her strengths and her limitations...
Early in the evening came the world premiere of David Del Tredici's Happy Voices. The composer may have intended a bravura show for the orchestra, but his garish, repetitive work was more like a Richard Strauss waltz heard in a nightmare. When Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No.1, with Rudolf Serkin as soloist, followed, the listener was prepared for old-fashioned piano busting. Instead, the instrument could scarcely be heard except in solo passages and in a lyrical dialogue between the cellos and the piano...
...musicianship-his pitch, timing and ear for balances and shadings-has always been impeccable. Having inherited a great ensemble from Stokowski, he made it greater. He has hired virtually all of the orchestra's 106 members and molded them into a unit renowned for its tonal sheen and bravura. As he has said: "The Philadelphia sound...
...intends to be a writer and does indeed turn out a manuscript. The last scene shows her, having posted it to a publisher, leaning on the gate of her parents' ranch, smiling. This is a modest, clear sighted film, and it profits considerably from a lack of the bravura landscape photography that most directors would have used to puff up a movie set in Australia...
Lunch reportedly does Nancy Sinatra songs alongside of her own compositions when 8-Eyed Spy performs. Therefore, it shouldn't come as any great surprise that she performs the Classics 4's "Spooky." Yet the sheer bravura of the act is comparable only to the early Bryan Ferry solo albums where he gleefully went through the motions on clinkers like "It's My Party" and "These Foolish Things." Half off and half on key, she swoops through the lyrics, even adding that final and sincere "Spook-aye" to the choruses. The band, comprising Jack Ruby on bass, Douglas Brown...