Word: instrument
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...pleasing contrast to all of this was the lucid, sensitive playing of clarinetist Harold Wright in the best of the three compositions performed. Here was a performer who cared enough not only to master the technical problems for his own instrument, but also to bring forth some sense of the compositional beauty of the music at hand: Brahm's 'honorable mention' for the evening. Dynamic markings were tastefully observed; phrases were si un out to their intended length, and, quite often in dialogue with the cello, passed gracefully to Neikrug, who, taking the opportunity to be heard, broke the continuity...
...pianist, inappropriately armed with an instrument designed to combat a full orchestra, obviously wins, unless he can be persuaded to restrain his superior forces; second place usually goes to the violinist, by virtue of the brilliance of his upper register. In third place is the cellist, ironically playing perhaps the most expressive of the three instruments. And the composer is fortunate, indeed, if he receives an accidental honorable mention somewhere in the midst of the bellicose uproar...
...suspects that Mr. Wright's laudable conscientiousness stems from the unfortunate paucity of masterworks for his instrument: those who have little often appreciate most. And one suspects further that Messrs. Totenberg, Neikrug, and Shure would render quite satisfactory performances of any of the 'best-loved' solo repertoire for their respective instruments--Rachmaninoff, Paganini, Bruch, Bloch, Tchaikovsky....Thus it seems that the relevant question to be considered by performers, critic, and audience alike, is: what, by comparison, is a Brahms trio...
Myth tells us that the god Apollo, whose instrument was the lyre, was challenged to a musical contest by a coarse satyr named Marsyas, who had learned to play the flute. Marsyas lost, and Apollo skinned him alive. In our day, this draconian triumph of reason over instinct has been reversed: Marsyas, the unrepressed goat-man, has won; the Rolling Stones are one of his incarnations. Unlike the Beatles-the very prototype of nice English working-class lads accepted everywhere, winning M.B.E.s from the Queen-the Stones from the start based their appeal partly on their reputation as delinquents. They...
...which each member plays short phrases, or frills, over that theme, or a variation. The continued emphasis is on speed, and on ensemble playing: guitar-violin, or guitar-violin-piano, resulting in a fusion of musical minds that is spiritual. Above all, each member exploits the possibilities of his instrument to the fullest...