Word: tempi
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Arie di Opere (Ferruccio Tagliavini with the Sinfonica dell' E.I.A.R., Ugo Tansini conducting; Cetra, 6 sides). The new hero of the Met's Italian fans (TIME, Jan. 20) sings arias from six operas (Mignon, Tosca, Rigoletto, The Barber of Seville, Manon, Elisir d'Amore). The Italian tempi are perhaps a little languid for U.S. tastes, but Tagliavini's contralto-like pianissimi are wondrously lyrical. The imported Italian discs (which cost a whopping $3.25 each) are technically as good as most U.S. recordings. Performance: excellent...
...conductor's accelerations and retardations are easily forgiven in light of his exciting treatment of this familiar work. As in all his performances of Brahms Koussevitzky strives for a cumulative emotional effect through the music and ignores the niceties of the traditional Classic approach. Although liberties are taken with tempi and choir prominence, Koussevitzky's Brahms is a good answer to those who insist that the German master is academic and intellectual. Brahms was warm-blooded and extrovert Sunday afternoon...
Very few people agree with Koussevitzky's choice of tempi in Beethoven, but almost no one can deny that they are always honest and effective. It is often sound to get a new impression of a well-worn piece; when the work is one as great as the "Eroica," it becomes essential. If the approach is different, it is studied; if it makes the work sound different than it does with other conductors, there is always a great chance that, perhaps, Beethoven wanted it to sound just that...
Concertgoers, long familiar with Stokowski's ponderous schmalzing of Bach, were not unduly surprised. But New York Times Critic Olin Downes had had enough. Said he: ". . . More could have been heard had it not been for the extremely lachrymose and dilatory tempi, and the unblushing sentimentalism in interpretation, which almost uniformly prevailed, so that the B-Minor aria with the violin solo sounded like the Méditation from Thaïs. . . . Bach's music . . . stood up surprisingly well under the handicap...
...conductor, lacking the ability to envision a whole symphony in one flash, and so give his performances a clear stamp. The recording of the Sibelius Second suffers from this indeterminateness. It is rushed and nervous in places, stodgy in others, and prevailingly slovenly. One may quarrel with details of tempi when Koussevitzky plays the work, but without exception he gives a performance of superb vigor and effect. However, the release is technically good, except for a lack of body to the orchestra, and in general is an adequate...