Word: themes
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Another problem was his inability to perceive the organic emotional continuity of this great work. He missed the miracle of the Scherzo, in which Beethoven keeps an ostinato theme from becoming mechanical, by adopting a slow tempo. There was hardly a touch of gentleness and sway in the priceless slow movement in which every phrase should be continent and compassionate, where lyricism and drama should perfectly intermingle. Yannatos tolerated reticent playing, displayed an at times staggering lapse of taste in phrasing, and generally enervated the performance by failing to grasp the dramatic ethos of Beethoven's universal consciousness...
...surpassing beauty and power of the Finale swept all these profanations before them. The orchestra coalesced with fine string playing for the most part, especially in the opening violincello recitative which comes just before the main theme dispels Beethoven's irresolution. The solo quartet, however, was unconscionably bad. The bass, Mr. Mac Morgan, was totally inadequate to his tasks, displaying no vestige of tone and only a certain diaphrammatic eloquence. Paul Huddleston, the tenor, was the best of the four soloists, but was unremittingly routine. The two women, soprano Chloe Owen and contralto Mary Davenport, sang like superannuated Valkyries, spoiling...
...Fantasticks, of course, sets out to be the definitive fable on the classic Boy Meets Girl theme. Beverly Randolph, as The Girl, is just about the best illustration of the principle you can find. Fortunately she is more than the usual ingenue. She sings somewhere between torch and gospel--a most enticing balance...
...most purely comic in tone, and therefore affords a splendid view of the craftsman at work, of a half century of theatrical experience synthesized into two hours and some odd of laugh piled upon laugh. That the play also manages to come briefly to grips with a serious theme is, well, downright remarkable...
...vast tangle. On the first day of the discussion--which proved the most productive in many ways--the conversation bounced from the problems of blacks in America, to the problems of big bureaucracy and corporate capitalism. A Czech economist, Eugene Loebl, interjected the problems of youth as a sub-theme, but conversation turned away after an insistent Italian suggested that the American crisis could not really be separated from the problems of the world at large, and particularly the underdeveloped countries. Kaysen explained politely to him that the rest of the world would be considered two days hence...