Word: violin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Nero played his violin as Rome burned. Raftless men smoked pipes as the Titanic sunk. And Woody Allen took to wearing hats as his marriage with Mia Farrow deteriorated...
Haitink, who had been conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam for more than twenty years, led the BSO in a performance of the Prelude to the First Act of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg, the Sibelius Violin Concerto, and Brahms' First Symphony. Kremer joined the orchestra as soloist in the concerto...
...third solo part and cadenza. Kremer showed a pair of weaknesses. His violent charging at his violin with the bow occasionally gave his notes unsteady attacks. If the problem was due to excess energy, it's excusable: few violinists have so able a bow arm as Oistrakh had. In addition, Kremer's tone seemed to run sharp now and then. Perhaps he was rattled by losing a string from his bow during the lick...
...This orchestra underwent a complete transformation under their visiting leader; suddenly, the BSO was the Concert-gebouw's forgotten sibling. The string pizzacati were sharp and their entrances were flawless. In the second movement, the wind choruses were perfectly tuned and placed. Then came the crowning moment--the horn-violin duo, in which concertmaster Malcolm Lowe played so exquisitely as to melt one's heart...
...London disc also features a recording of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Ronald Brautigam at the piano and Peter Masseurs supplying the trumpet solo work. The piece resembles Shostakovich's other concertos for violin and cello in that conventional devices of the Germanic school are used for delirious swells and placid falls, with the addition of unexpected minor chord modulations that open up new possibilities for the instrument. Those who see Shostakovich as a throwback to the Romantics should not underestimate the importance of his original variations on timetested themes...