Word: scherzo
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Chopin's B-minor Scherzo was impetuous enough, but somehow a little unyielding. Three Brahms pieces concluded the program: Opus 11 No. 1, and Opus No.119 No.3 and No. 4. Gross played all the music in this last group with great energy, sometimes verging upon ferocity. His conception of this music is in the grand manner, with robust tempos and high-toned fortissimos. If an occasional passage was not executed with perfect technical ease, this did not destroy the total effect, not interrupt the continuity, which seems to be Gross' first concern. It is not surprising that such a spirited...
...precisely this problem of balance that tripped up Bavicchi in his Sonata No. 2 for 'Cello and Piano. When the 'cello was playing on the top string, all was well; but again and again the piano writing totally smothered the less penetrating middle strings. The scherzo was stylistically consistent; but the other three movements were episodic and eclectic, the slow movement even starting with homage to Bloch's 'cello rhapsody Schelomo. Bavicchi anchored the first movement on recurrences of a sustained 'cello note punctuated by sharp jabs on the piano, which functioned like the trombone theme in Sibelius' Seventh Symphony...
...predominantly heavy effect, partly because of foggy fidelity, and there are some sloppy attacks in the orchestra, but there are also some stunning bursts of choral sound, some impressive singing by soloists (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth Hongen, Hans Hopf, Otto Edelmann), and some unique French horn performances in the scherzo...
...between Romanticism and Classicism; the stuff of his music is Romantic, but its manipulation and design are Classical. This warm and glowing sextet is a veritable textbook of almost endless varieties of string texture. For example, the Andante often uses the violas and 'cellos as a dark quartet; the Scherzo utilizes the six instruments in three pairs; and the Finale exploits the colors of a high and a low trio. All six instruments together produce a sumptuous texture that is unique...
...first time since Arturo Toscanini took it abroad 25 years ago, the orchestra got the gladdest welcome and the biggest raves any orchestra has ever had at the Edinburgh Festival. The press was more pro than con. Sample pro: the Manchester Guardian's Neville Gardus noted that the scherzo of Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 4 "received a performance which frankly left me ... speechless with wonder and admiration." Not so pro: John Warrack of the London Daily Telegraph found the same symphony played with "appalling force, shrieking with despair and spitting fury, unrelenting in its attack upon the nerves...