Word: pizzicato
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Shaham and Sollscher next chose to record three of a cycle of six "sonatas" (perhaps more accurately termed sonatinas), and these are clearly for the purpose of highlighting the violin. The extended left hand pizzicato passage near the end of the first sonata is mind-boggling, and Shaham handles the famous passage of thirds found in the latter part of the sixth sonata with uncommon finesse...
...encores were Foday Musa Suso's "Tilliboyo" ("Sunset") and John Oswald's "Specter," the former a pleasant African tune rendered in amplified pizzicato, the latter a terrifying essay in electric feedback. The enthusiastic crowd of 800 was reluctant to cease its applause...
...insouciant rocker She's Too Good for Me, the lyrics wring pathos and irony from the misfortunes of unlucky lovers. Yet Sting's manners are too refined to let the suffering spoil the lush settings; the shackles in this emotional dungeon are lined with velvet. In Seven Days, pizzicato strings thrum a decorous, mocking waltz as a man muses over various ways to deal with a romantic rival. In the darkly cynical Love Is Stronger than Justice, a man kills his brothers to avoid sharing the affections of a beautiful senorita. "I look forward to a better day," Sting blithely...
...fiery Duo (1914), full of rich and varied strong sonorities, gets a passionate reading from Phillips, who has a flourishing chamber-music career, and Grossman, a Chicago Symphony cellist. Even better is the brooding Sonata (1915), which employs just about every string-writing trick there is, including left-hand pizzicato and scordatura (nonstandard tuning). As close to technical impossibility as a piece can be and still remain playable, the Sonata is a 20th century masterpiece that deserves to be known by all music lovers, not just cellists. Grossman's performance, while not as pyrotechnical as, say, Janos Starker's, captures...
...musical ethos, demanding though it is, is still far from that of old-fashioned tyrants like his mentor, George Szell, or Fritz Reiner. "Perfectionist is one of the stupidest words in the English language," says Levine. "Take any performance. I promise you that there will be a pizzicato chord that's not together; somewhere or other a horn will crack. If there are a number of magical and successful moments that really capture what they should, then a technical imperfection here or there will pass. The question is whether you are counting successes or counting mistakes...