Word: cellos
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Germany moved into Belgium on Aug. 4-and the mistakes began soon thereafter. Until his death in 1913, Schlieffen had reiterated: "Make the right wing strong." But his successor, General Helmuth von Moltke, was a Christian Scientist, a cello player, and a cautious man: he weakened the right wing to strengthen the line elsewhere. When the preposterous Russians, unequipped, untrained and unafraid, invaded East Prussia, Moltke forgot Schlieffen and diverted two corps from the Belgian drive to the Russian front. The two corps were never needed; General Erich Ludendorff routed the Russians at Tannenberg before his reinforcements arrived...
...parts of the Sonata No. 2 in D major for gamba and klavier, the double-manualed harpsichord sounded as if it were sporadically unwinding. It is no criticism of the gamba to observe that it lacks intensity in the ranges where the cello would have it, but the notes themselves seemed lackadaisically defined in the fast passages, and the general shape of the concluding fast movement was unclear...
...Mozart's trios for violin, cello, and piano, Nos. 3 and 5, constituted the second half of the program. The string players seemed to have warmed up, but at the same time some of the distinctions between pitch levels melted. In addition, the technically able pianist lacked finesse in rounding off phrases...
...responsible for one of the concert's most definite successes--an interesting novelty in sound and tone--but also for its only trace of weakness. Proficiency on such instruments as the cromorne (a woodwind) or the viele (a string about the size of the violin but held like a cello) is not often in demand, and so it is not surprising that the Cambridge ensemble should impress one more by vivacious spirit of performance than by craftsmanship of execution...
...singer he really is not. His is a voice that is not a voice in the musical sense of the word. His singing is not a flow of melody, but a strange string of sounds that are sometimes shrill, sometimes whining, sometimes rasping, like the sound of a cello bow scratching an unwilling string, but most often pitched in a vibrant falsetto of unworldly intensity. It is not the sort of voice that one instantly enjoys. It most definitely has to grow on the listener...