Word: ostinatos
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Programmed Individually. Each of the six strings, attached to its own tiny synthesizer, can be programmed individually. This means that one string can be set to play a percussive ostinato, while its neighbor simulates a keyboard synthesizer. Another string might be tuned as a bass. The remaining strings could be used as a live guitar. While the resulting one-man band is somewhat less than an orchestra, a musician playing a guitar synthesizer could fill in for any six-man rock group-or one twelve-handed guitarist...
...melodramatically, making the subsequent return to the more characteristic rhythmic motion of the piece seem awkward. In the second movement Haydn alternates sections of simple, broad melody (played in this case with a Brahmsian flavor), and mildly rhapsodic filigree (largely in the first violin part) which is given an ostinato accompaniment (sixteenth notes) marked both with dots and the written indication, "staccato." Only during the climax midway through the piece was this ostinato element performed according to the markings--elsewhere, these repeated notes were articulated in a smooth, 'lyrical' way. Thus the movement was robbed of both the intended contrast...
...eerie whale songs *seemed a natural complement to the otherworldly, mystical music of Hovhaness. He is one of the few composers today who has a distinctive, instantly identifiable style. His compositions stick to conservative harmonies, relying heavily on ostinato, and reveling in lush, big-scale orchestration. They are immensely colorful and oddly moving. And God Created Great Whales began with muttering string noises and a submarine roar on the drums, followed by leviathan trombones diving in and out of rushing violins. Finally the great cetaceans themselves appeared, via tape recording. They sang with an astounding range of tone and expressiveness...
...MOST conservative piece of the evening was Leonard Lehrman's String Trio, written with frank lyricism, at times slightly oleoginous, culminating in a strong last page of almost botanical beauty. The work is not wholly successful as its ostinato Intermezzo is banal. The piece is redolent of the elegaic Bartok but would be properly described as derivative rather than eclectic...
Another problem was his inability to perceive the organic emotional continuity of this great work. He missed the miracle of the Scherzo, in which Beethoven keeps an ostinato theme from becoming mechanical, by adopting a slow tempo. There was hardly a touch of gentleness and sway in the priceless slow movement in which every phrase should be continent and compassionate, where lyricism and drama should perfectly intermingle. Yannatos tolerated reticent playing, displayed an at times staggering lapse of taste in phrasing, and generally enervated the performance by failing to grasp the dramatic ethos of Beethoven's universal consciousness...