Word: violins
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...Velvet Rope, is omnivorous, sexually and musically: folk, hip-hop, man, woman, it's all in play. Her basic sound, however, is the same--her small, soft voice surrounded by imposing, muscular dance beats. The album has more than a few striking moments, from Vanessa-Mae's rubbed-raw violin solo on the title track to the brutal frankness of What About, in which a woman rejects a marriage proposal from an abusive boyfriend. Jackson occasionally relies too heavily on others--Got 'Til It's Gone draws smartly on Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi (credited) but clumsily...
...Mendelssohn concerto is standard concert material simply because it is good, not because consummate performers like Gil Shaham like to play it. Shaham's masterful performance on Saturday night, though, drew out the piece's best qualities. Shaham began the violin solo with a rich, elegaic tone, bringing depth without melodrama to the tragic melody. He continued with a flexible tone that was glittering in his sublime upper register and lusty and rich in the low, and an impressive dynamic range that challenged the orchestra to match...
...third movement is probably the best known part of the concerto. Like the first, it begins on a sorrowful note that quickly changes to embrace a triumphant mood. The whimsical theme carried by the violin and the flutes is probably among the concerto's most difficult passages, and both Shaham and the woodwinds carried it off with carefree finesse...
...haunting unison violin theme opens the surprising third movement. It is rare--and disarming--to hear so many violins play without accompaniment; the effect is unforgettable. Triumphant moments are genuine, as if Bruckner had finally broken out of his pervasive bad mood. A soothing calm wells up at the end of the piece, which ends almost imperceptibly. One can only imagine that the fourth movement would have united the disparate themes and expressed his final resolution...
...play the NFL like a violin with On Top of the Covers, our virtual football gambling guide (TIME Daily...