Word: kreutzers
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After 25 years of marriage, Tolstoy repaid her by publishing The Kreutzer Sonata, a combination novel of manners, tract against sexual relations, and confession. On the surface, there is nothing in The Kreutzer Sonata to link Tolstoy and Pozdnyshev, the protagonist. But Tolstoy did reveal many incidents of their private lives-the young bride being shocked at his frankly lustful diary, a quarrel about whether or not to move to Moscow, his resentment over her refusal to nurse their babies. More important, Pozdnyshev's theories and feelings reflected Tolstoy's. Having exalted marriage and condemned adultery in Anna...
...young husband-and-wife team presented a program that was deftly complementary to the piano recital of Leonard Shure a week earlier. Once again a work of Beethoven provided us the cornerstone, this time one from his more extroverted second period--the Sonata in A major Op. 47 ("Kreutzer"). But if Shure concentrated on the nineteenth century, the Laredos almost seemed to go out of their way to avoid it. The rest of their program consisted of Bach's Sonata No. 2 in A major and the Sonata Concertante of resident composer Leon Kirchner...
Strangely enough, they gave a more coherent performance of the Kirchner than of the much more familiar "Kreutzer" Sonata. Once again, balance was a problem. Ruth Laredo may be a woman but there is nothing mincing about her approach to the piano in general or to the "Kreutzer" in particular...
...spite of these shortcomings, the word that kept coming to mind was "exquisite." Jaime Laredo's near-flawless intonation enabled him to give the most moving rendition of the "Kreutzer's" opening double-stop solo I have ever heard. As one member of the audience said, it was a pleasure to sit back and to listen to a violinst without having to cringe. As a team the Laredos often seemed to compete with each other. But when they both agreed on a sound, the effect was breathtaking--as when Mrs. Laredo brought herself to match her husband's pianissimo...
...STRING QUARTETS NOS. 1 AND 2 (Crossroads). Chamber music, particularly that of the 20th century, is often an acquired taste. But Leo Janáĉek wrote hummable, folk-flavored and dramatic pieces for strings. His first quartet was inspired by Tolstoy's chilling story The Kreutzer Sonata and is played with special eloquence and style by the Janáĉek String Quartet...