Word: instrumentality
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Charlie Parker famously said that the key to playing jazz was to master your instrument thoroughly, then forget all that stuff and just play. The same is true for the listener: While curiosity and an open mind are essential attributes for the knowledgeable consumer, it's what ends up playing on your stereo all the time that determines your musical worldview. Thus old-school tunesmithery prevails here, as it did on my CD player all year. Herewith, a selection of 20th-century music that rang my bell...
...undistinguished. Forrester’s path of emotional evolution in the film seems forced, each of its extremes a protest against the brusque and wry tendencies that Connery has honed for so long. Thus, when Forrester rails against his life’s misfortunes, his attitude seems unreal, an instrument of the plot. When he cries, he’s positively painful to watch. And when he shouts at Jamal to “Punch the keys, for God’s sake!” as he types, it’s a meaningless snatch of adrenaline meant...
Wild's still omnipotent fingers transform the instrument into a source of marvels. He can electrify audiences with an impossibly demonic performance of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz, move them with an achingly tender account of a Sonetto del Petrarca by the composer or do both with the Manichean Sonata in B Minor...
...holidays tend to highlight certain deficits in modern child rearing that aren't so obvious the rest of the year, when we're sharing pizza by the slice and eating burgers out of the bag. "What is this strange, many-pronged stabbing instrument?" our kids inquire at the holiday table, examining their forks. Finger bowls, napkin rings and the other trappings of formal dining are as mysterious to them as the relics of forgotten religions...
...tortoiseshell, and most have intricately carved rosettas in their centers. It was fascinating to see one made by Stradivarius; the famous violin-maker also had a wonderful sense for the guitar. The second gallery has novelties like a Dali-esque double guitar and harp guitars, but most of the instruments are less interesting to look at. The commentaries and the main angle of the room focus on the history of the instrument and the way in which it entered American mainstream music. The third gallery, a paean to the electric guitar, is dark except for the fluorescent lights over...