Word: ritornello
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...HIGHLIGHT was the Beethoven Concerto No. 5 in E Flat, "The Emperor Concerto." Hugh Wolff is a brilliant pianist, and proved it throughout the piece. From the opening ritornello, introducing all the themes, he provided the orchestra with terrific energy which did not lapse in the entire first movement (the longest Beethoven ever wrote). The recapitulation was a great moment of artistry--both pianist, conductor, and orchestra demonstrating the origin of the word "concerto" in the Italian "to strive with". Each section of the orchestra was at its best at the end of the first movement...
...history is rather interesting: when Dylan Thomas died unexpectedly in 1954 he was en route to collaborate with Stravinsky on an opera, and the composer, much distraught, wrote this simple, direct work in memory of his friend. The In Memoriam opens with canonic music for trombones and string ritornello; this is repeated in the postlude with the parts reversed. The middle section is a strophic setting of Thomas's "In Memoriam," written on the death of his father. A young tenor soloist of the Robert Shaw Chorale, Mr. Mallory Walker, joined members of the orchestra for this splendid rendition...
...orchestra gave its guest soloist full support throughout. Except for some bad moments at the violin entrance, resulting from the fast tempo taken in the ritornello, Poto followed the soloist with amazing precision. While the orchestra did not play with as much expressiveness, rhythmic drive, and intensity as it might have, it at least supplied vigor and accuracy. The winds lapsed into insecure entrances and poor intonation at the beginning of the second movement, but their solos were generally good, especially those of oboist Michael Palmer. Miss Martzy received an immediate standing ovation at the end--a rare event...
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