Word: scherzo
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...except in the ring you count only to ten"), prefers to follow Moscow-dictated formulas for "non-decadent" music. The first and last movements of his Resistance Symphony were brash and hackneyed enough to please the most fastidious commissar. But in the soft-spoken second movement and the effervescent scherzo, Zafred's melodic sense and Latin high spirits almost rattled the composition off its one-track party line...
...Nelson Olmsted: "First I invented the flute [deep blue solo]. Next, the oboe [etc.] . . . But that wasn't all I needed. I had to have -Sharps and flats and pizzicato, Molto Lento and staccato, Treble clef, ritard, repeat, Allegro, chord, and boogie-beat, Major, minor, jig, and waltz, Scherzo, downbeat, jazz, and smaltz, Jukebox, drumstick, and Puccini, Bassoons, batons and Toscanini...
Each movement has its own special fascination. The scherzo, probably the finest ever written, is a study in titanic contrasts. One moment the whole orchestra is playing the rhythmic theme louder than would seem possible, and suddenly nothing remains but a rollicking melody for woodwind quartet. Some critics call the third movement too long. They could not be more wrong. After hearing Koussevitzky's interpretation, I could only wish that the movement was twice as long as it is. But Beethoven knew the dangers of satisfaction, and he achieved just the right length...
Mendelssohn's Fifth (Reformation) Symphony was the big work of the program. At times, particularly in the trio of the scherzo, the performance was as fine as I have heard. Any objection about the dominance of the brass was overruled by its ability. From my point of view, Bloch's Concerto Grosso was the tour de force of the evening. The strings joined together with such power an assurance that I truly regretted the omission of the third movement. The piano part is chiefly one of doubling. This was unfortunate last night, for it gave the audience no chance...
...life Igor Stravinsky has written music, sometimes great music, to order-for people who would hire him on his terms. The Firebird, Petrouchka and The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky's best ballet scores, were commissioned. He has composed a polka for elephants for the Ringling Brothers, a Scherzo á la Russe for Paul Whiteman, Ballet Scenes for Billy Rose, an Ebony Concerto for Woody Herman and his jazzband. Scherzo á la Russe was written to fit one side of a Whiteman record (says Stravinsky: "He played it very badly. He has a very famous name...