Word: legato
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...command of dynamics is spectacular, and the various crescendos and decrescendos were subtle and nuanced, yet vivid and exciting as the orchestra swelled and faded dramatically. The violins shimmered over the rapid-fire rataplan of the brass as the overture progressed. Dancing staccato strings quickly relinquished prominence to legato passages for a fuller ensemble, until finally the hall exploded with a burst of trombone fanfare. A subdued orchestra, with piccolo decoration, receded once again into the portentous moodiness of the opening as gruff cellos reappeared to close the piece...
...into a grin that dwarfed her 80-lb. frame and skating circles around everyone but Kwan. Then the 17-year-old veteran showed that having soul as well as legs counts. Kwan drew out the chords of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor into a smooth legato line as she flowed, left leg extended, straight toward the panel of judges. When she emerged from that, the audience and judges had swooned, and Kwan had gold in her sights. Eight of nine judges placed her first...
...work during his lifetime except his magnum opus, the ferociously demanding 24 Caprices for solo violin. It seems just, then, that the guitar virtuoso ELIOT FISK has recorded his own transcriptions of the pieces (MusicMasters Classics). What amazes throughout is Fisk's ingenuity in finding the equivalents of, say, legato and ricocheted bowing on his plucked instrument, and his dexterity in executing them with such panache. This recording will dazzle violinists and daunt guitarists...
...musical imagination that can make the instrument sound as if it were born to play jazz. Unlike a guitar, a banjo cannot sustain a note for very long. ("Pop, ping, and then it's gone," Fleck says.) Yet on his ballad Sunset Road, Fleck creates an illusion of satiny, legato plangency. If you want one word for the album, call it mellow. Says Tony Trischka, his former teacher: "Bela Fleck is making the banjo safe for mass consumption...
...London Symphony fiddlers know happy and sad too, and they get really sad when they are subjected to boring lectures. Thomas' approach, therefore, will be straightforward. "I'll just say, 'Let the phrase fall gently downward, legato -- smoothly.' The violinists will know that the left hand must be the most intense and the right hand must be the lightest, exactly at the right moment. As they do it again and again, it will work into their own reflexes and their own minds and will become more natural, more beautiful. That's when it gets exciting -- when I suddenly hear them...