Word: passione
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...thing that seems to bother Sen. Paul E. Tsongas (D-Mass.) the most is dogmatic ideology. Tsongas always frowns at an easy answer, no matter which end of the political spectrum it comes from. He picks apart partisan politics with the passion of an inspired poly-sci professor, noting casually that "a lot of this will be cleared up in my upcoming book." But Tsongas has already sounded his bugle for the charge of "humanistic realism," a leaner, meaner brand of liberalism he thinks will work in the 1980s. With his wordy solutions and academic jargon, Tsongas has, whether...
...promptly follows Lord Gypsy's lead in sending out his wife as a prositute. But then again, when he sees her being picked up by a member of the new Brazilian bourgeoisie he files over to save her, screaming, "Not with him," and flailing away with great matrimonial passion. Diegues deftly speaks his mind about the mixed blessings of developments, scouring many satirical points against the iniquities and displacements it brings, but he always remains close to the land and the simple feelings of the people whose lives are left in the lurch...
...composer cried after the premiere of his work. His passion for life and love, and the impending doom he felt achieves palpability in the percussion's pulse, the woodwinds' C minor arias in the third movement, and the brass' blues. Abbado's interpretation, whether instinctive or well-planned, hits the mark just like Bernstein, who pioneered the performance of Mahler's symphonies for concert-goers...
Other composers have turned turgid melodrama into art--Puccini exhumed Belasco creakers to create Madama Butterfly and La Fanciulla Del West--but Sondheim's score achieves little distinction. It flounders in a pool of notes instead of gushing with passion. Only the lushness of "Pretty Woman," the dissonance of "Epiphany," and the insouciance of "A Little Priest" salvage the first act from musical banality. Even here, the Metropolitan Center's gully of an orchestra pit prevents Sweeney's blazing razor attack from terrorizing even the first...
AMBITION: THE SECRET PASSION by Joseph Epstein; Dutton; 312 pages...