Word: passacaglias
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...program was comprised of only three works: the Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, the Brahms Handel Variations and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition...
Though "Bach-Pratt" may never achieve the hyphenated ubiquity of "Bach-Busoni," the pianist's realization of the organ music was good, particularly in the translation of pedal points and high-register fireworks. In the Passacaglia, his loud, turbo righthand octaves were sensational, though there seemed to be some rhythmic slipping and sliding. The first fugal episode was marvelous, and it was interesting to consider just how well the Hall worked as church space. Sometimes the texture of the fugue became too dense or blurred for comprehension, but the forceful, toccata-style ending was astonishingly clear...
William Schuman's Third Symphony occupied most of the second half of the program. This formally rigid piece demands a balance between strings and brass that was not always present in this performance. In the opening "Passacaglia and Fugue," to use the talk of the trade, the trumpets could have been shooting ducks out of the balcony. But this is only a quibble when one considers how carefully Previn articulated both crucial ingredients, the ground of the passacaglia and the subject of the fugue...
...cannot help but hold the recording of the fourth symphony against the standard of Carlos Kleiber's intensely gripping account on Deutsche Grammophon. Haitink does not fare badly at all, and his treatment of the elaborate passacaglia structure of the fourth movement is thoroughly admirable, including the difficult horn chorale...
...Passacaglia revealed another, extremely promising and satisfying step in the continuing evolution of Perlman's playing. From the energetic dynamo of the seventies to the sometimes complacent and always prolific artist of the eighties has risen a mature, cerebral virtuoso who has proved his ranking next to Isaac Stern and Salvatore Accardo, although it is yet to be seen whether he can attain the inherent perfection of a Jascha Heifetz...