Word: pizzicato
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Simonds was always in full command of his piano, and never over-pedaled. He produced as feathery and pearl-like scales, and as delicate trills as one could desire. (That marvelous soft, ghostly passage in the middle of the first movement, for pizzicato strings and trilling piano, came off especially well...
...work in some ways, since Mr. Stewart contrasts tense, massive climaxes with passages that are almost flip--the sly fillip of the flute at the very end, for instance. The opening is very attractive, with the theme (almost a twelve-tone row) announced softly by the low strings pizzicato to the accompaniment of saucy raps on the snare drum. But in the middle section--a sort of languourous waltz--the sense of direction is lost and the piece begins to maunder. The final movement was transmitted in rather hazy fashion by the unsure playing of the orchestra, but it seemed...
...rehearsals, where Menuhin turned up in cinnamon-colored shorts, the full spirit of dedication remained. "Bravo for the pizzicato!" Casals would cry, while through the door peered the Casals cultists: thick-spectacled German music masters, a pony tail from Paris, a pair of combs from Catalonia, a Fulbright scholar, a darkly gowned queen (Elisabeth of Belgium)-all hushed to silence in the presence of the eternal creative mystery...
...this work, notwithstanding all the criticism of Brahms' orchestral form as too thick or unimaginative, needs an orchestra for many reasons, as the substitution of an organ, as in Sunday's performance, made painfully clear. The instrumental effects, such as pizzicato, used as a foil to the voices; the tonal texture of different groups of instruments; and the all-pervading crescendo and diminuendo which is so essential--all these are impossible for an organist...
...none of the solemnity of the classic ballet, are free and relaxed, like those of children racing in and out of games. The dancers tie themselves up in little knots and delight in getting out of them gracefully. As the music mocks itself-in a trumpet jeer or a pizzicato poke-the dancers mock the music with a hop, skip or bump. Most dramatic bits: Canadian-born Melissa Hayden's stunning solo variation and a languorous, sensual pas de deux exquisitely danced by Virginia-born Diana Adams and Arthur Mitchell, a talented Negro member of the company. The whole...