Word: sforzandi
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...performance of the Dvorak maintained a strong forward momentum, the tempi in all but the second movement appropriately quick and flowing. The tight sforzandi that are so characteristic of this work were attacked consistently and with amazing precision. Subtle changes in tempo within movements were elegantly executed, as well as dramatic changes in dynamics, moving easily between thundering chords and delicate melodies. Particularly notable were the passionate development in the opening movement, the excellent phrasing of the slower second movement and the move to the overwhelming climax in the finale...
...time the exposition of the first movement was repeated, things were under control, and there followed a structurally clairvoyant performance, emphasizing both the subtle interrelationships and the marked contrasts inherent in the composer's material. In the second movement, I felt that so many gentle hesitations before sforzandi and cadences, in conjunction with a tempo leaning toward the slow side, tended to restrict the flow. However, these elements of rubato, although not to my taste, were part of a deliberate, introspective interpretation which never lacked coherence. The readings of the minuet and rondo were exemplary...
Much of this well-advertised talent was in evidence Saturday night. Adams is a musician who knows what he wants. His conducting alternates between the subtle and the demonstrative, with a youthful tendency to exaggerate contrasts. In the Haydn Symphony No. 99 he turned sforzandi into Beethovenian Hammerschlage, while in Milhaud's La Creation du Monde the battery of percussion often overwhelmed the rest of the ensemble in periodic fits of exuberance...
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