Word: playfulness
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...suaver, more brilliant, more impassioned, but no other orchestra brings to 18th and 19th century classics the same air of joyous spontaneity. Last week, under Conductor Herbert von Karajan, the orchestra arrived in Manhattan on a 40-day, six-country tour. At each of the concerts, the Viennese played Mozart-Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Symphony No. 40-and to many listeners the effect was startling. Most Western orchestras play Mozart as if they remembered the 18th century only as the Age of Reason, give the music a cold, chiseled brilliance. The Viennese approach is easy, mellow, almost sentimental, conveying a chamber...
Despite its eminence, one complaint might be made against the Vienna Philharmonic: it plays too little modern music, rarely even gets around to the works of such eminent Viennese as Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. But the men of the Vienna Philharmonic know what they like. Says Concertmaster Willy Boskovsky: "Our dominion, with our sound, is Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner and the classics; at this we are good. Perhaps American orchestras can play some of the newer music better...
...Edimbourg and Francois Boieldieu's La Dame Blanche. Most of the time since, it has stuck to a rigid amateur policy; only the conductors and guest soloists are pros. Part of the orchestra's success stems from its organization; its governing board is made up of playing members, and each of the orchestra's 95 instrumentalists must survive an annual audition; if any player does not measure up, he loses his place, must give way to fresh outside talent. Every orchestra member pays $10 to play with the Philharmonic; the remainder of the $8,000 budget...
Whole families often play with the Philharmonic. S. Carl Robinson, vice president of the St. Louis transit system, plays the second flute while his wife is a timpanist and his 23-year-old son a French horn player. The rehearsal schedule is heavy: six 2½-hour rehearsals for each of four concerts. What gives the Philharmonic its special quality? "They are amateurs," said Guest Conductor Van Remoortel last week, "in the old sense of the word-'people in love with something.' This group happens to be in love with music...
...script, written by Karl Tunberg, and touched up by S. N. Behrman, Gore Vidal and Christopher Fry, is well ordered, and its lines sometimes sing with good rhetoric and quiet poetry. The actors, for the most part, play in the grand manner, but with controlled firmness. Actor Boyd carries off the prize with a virile portrayal of Messala, and Hugh...