Word: conductor
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ANTONIA: A PORTRAIT OF THE WOMAN. A loving record of the life of Antonia Brico, a symphony conductor scarred but not humbled by the problem of being a woman and an artist in America. This beautifully fashioned documentary by Jill Godmilow and Judy Collins never bows to rhetoric or pity...
...Conductor Schippers and the Met put the lie to that argument last week in a way that demonstrated all over again what grand opera is supposed to be and mean. Mussorgsky's orchestral writing turns out to be stark, but not as bleak as one had been led to believe. His melodic style is roughhewn and at times commonplace, but never without a specific point. What the new Met production revealed above all was that, amazingly enough, Mussorgsky knew exactly what he was doing. He also made fierce demands on the orchestral players, often asking, say, the horns...
...Russian. Why? Because Mussorgsky's vocal writing bobs and weaves, rises and falls to the natural conversational flow of the Russian words. Boris' realistic-in a sense unoperatic-style of recitative is perhaps Mussorgsky's greatest innovation and contribution to future operatic composers. Says Conductor Schippers: "Boris influenced so many composers-Puccini, Stravinsky, Janacek, even Gian Carlo Menotti. Without it we might not have had a Pelleas et Melisande. That's how important I think Boris is." -William Bender
After the intermission, the orchestra surprised the audience with its vigorous performance of the Eighth Symphony. Hugh Wolff once again proved to be a conscientious conductor, sensibly placing music before histrionics. The orchestra was well-disciplined and seemed well-rehearsed. But one could not forget that the Bach Society is, after all, a student organization. While the forte tutti sections were played with gusto, the subtleties of phrasing, slight accentuations, and nuances in dynamics were never quite made apparent, for fear of sacrificing precision and ensemble. This was also a problem in the pianissimo sections and during some...
...Mikado should be good, I guess--the Gilbert and Sullivan Players' productions usually are, and in this case the conductor is also nominally a Crimson photographer, although he admittedly hasn't taken a picture in about two years. Opens tonight at the Agassiz...