Word: tempi
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...like a dancer's, and his classic profile flashes now right, now left, like a lighthouse beacon. He has a nearly perfect ear for balancing orchestra and singers, and the Met chorus never sounds better than it does with Schippers conducting. Though emotion sometimes drives him into hurried tempi, he has a strong sense of opera that keeps his music in sympathetic concert with the libretto-which he soundlessly sings through in every performance...
...sufficiently chaotic), Wilson actually indulged in the old-fashioned technique of wit. Conducting a very competent chamber ensemble (flute, clarinet, viola, cello, percussion), Wilson produced an observable change of tempo within the very first of the five sections: an event totally unexpected in view of the leaden, unchanging tempi of the preceding work on the program. In the succeeding movements, Wilson created intimate subensembles and experimented with their sonorities; e.g., he combined tuned drums, viola pizzicato, and flute. Of the student composers on the program, Wilson alone managed to go beyond cleverness in working out details to clear action...
...serialization can be carried further. For instance, the given series could be transposed to any one of twelve levels; thus the levels on which the series appears can in turn be serialized. Instruments play varying levels of loudness and softness, and at varying speeds; thus and tempi can be serialized. Instruments have varying timbres, and combinations of instruments vary in texture and density; the composer can serialize these...
...movements, Boulez uses a different ensemble chosen from the voice, alto flute (Harvey Sollberger), viola (Jacob Glick), guitar (Stanley Silverman), vibraphone (Paul Price), xylophone (Raymond Desroches), and percussion (Max Neuhaus). The texture of the sound is always clear, sometimes shimmering, sometimes punctiform, and always changing. With the flexibility of tempi and timbre goes an obvious fixity of notes and rhythmic patterns; certain intervals and rhythmic groupings recur constantly. And with all this planning, with all this studied freedom, the work still justifies a non-rational evaluation: it is dramatic, and worth hearing...
...that Miss Sutherland can only sing well when she is singing Puccini (a palpable falsehood). Consequently, Sir A. has ripped Handel's oratorio untimely from its century, making it as operatic Victorian as he possibly can. The result is an orchestra sprawling and unkempt, singers bawling and dyspeptic, and tempi crawling and inept. (London A-4357--you'll recognize the album by the ugly crucifix on its cover...