Word: lyricizing
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There is a little more to the book than that kind of thing. There are beautiful lyric passages of Texas flash-floods and sunsets. There are swell jabs at "artistic" San Francisco hangers-on, mindless but elegant Harvardians slumming in Hollywood, and New York publishing pariahs who know all the names of their authors, but none of the thoughts behind them. Most impressive is a long episode focussed on an economic South Texas uncle, who lives on a huge sheep ranch, and does nothing but eat, curse out his Mexican help, and jeep over to his wife on another ranch...
...latest is Sondheim's most brilliant accomplishment to date. That includes the lyrics for such past hits as West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959) and the music and lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962). Night Music's success rests on Sondheim's precious fancy, which allowed him to dare to compose the entire musical in ¼ time-or multiples thereof (6/8 and 9/12 are some of the other meters employed). For good measure, in both senses of the word, Sondheim has also thrown in such ancient techniques as canons...
...lyrics are instructive in an ironic way. They prove that good politics does not necessarily equal good music. What Ono hasn't learned is that an honest verbal expression of self does not constitute art unless the writer is honestly artistic. The words must capture a mood, an image, an idea with feeling to which others may grab hold to drift along with the song. How can you get excited about a lyric like...
Bing responded to singers in emotional and hard-to-predict ways. In 5,000 Nights, he forgives Tenor Franco Corelli his rages and frequent last-minute cancellations because he is "the incarnation of opera." But the late Jussi Bjoerling, who sang with a lyric grace beyond Corelli's comprehension but who annoyed Bing by his grudging attitude toward rehearsals, is not forgiven his sins-"a very irresponsible artist...
...distinctions dissolve and the themes can be interchangeable. In Daughter Buffalo, billed as her first novel with an American setting, even the characters seem to blur into each other. Talbot Edelman, M.D., is a self-acclaimed student of death whose inquiries include mutilating experiments on his dog Sally. A lyric-writing old gent named Turnlung is also an expert-a virtual memory bank of death and that other equable state, prenatal life. Both Talbot, the death scientist, and Turnlung, the death artist, develop a need and deep affection for one another. Both are in training for death, and it seems...