Word: legato
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...string section has become more solid, and the intonation continues to improve. The main faults are an over-weighty bass, and a tendency to lose intensity on the sustained notes. A less pronounced and biting attack on each note would have supplied a smoother legato, particularly in the opening Purcell Overture, which was otherwise very satisfactory in tone...
...voice is pure, rich and carries the haunting, dusky legato that still echoes the New Orleans of 40 years ago. It growls through the classic wails of Special Delivery Blues, Mighty Rumbling Blues, St. Louis Blues. In the upper register it is nothing more than a hoarse squeak; but down in the subterranean passages it flows, moans, glides and sighs with a power that has been achieved before-by Bessie Smith, Lizzy Miles-but that is still as rare as a 20-carat diamond...
Biggs concluded the 1956 series too, and the opinion I expressed in these pages at that time still stands. For Biggs has not mended his ways. Avoiding all long legato lines, he plays everything in a jerky, jabbing fashion. His approach would be better suited to chopping ice or dicing carrots. One of the great virtues of the organ is its ability to sustain a tone indefinitely without losing strength; yet Biggs is reluctant to make use of the advantage, and quits even the last not of a phrase almost the instant it sounds...
...into her multi-faceted material--be it mystical, earthy, whimsical, comic or nature-loving. She established herself as a superb musician in shaping her phrases and contours of spoken melody, in conveying all the subtle rhythms and inflections, in adopting the right tempos, in choosing the appropriate staccato or legato--all with the care of a Mozart specialist. Her voice is a thing of beauty to start with, and perfectly suited to the old Gaelic tongue and the several modern Irish dialects she employed (no actress in Ireland can even begin without competence in at least eight dialects). Her communicative...
...Sonata in B flat. It is a work of some substance, and Miss Yaeger rendered it with carefully chosen tempi and stylistic assurance. She also played four short pieces by Brahms. I thought she might have brought out the theme of the Intermezzo in C with a smoother, more legato style, but her interpretation of the Intermezzo in E minor was beguiling and delightful. Miss Yaeger is a pianist of considerable talent and we can look forward to hearing more from...