Word: grazioso
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...GRAZIOSO...
...Upon hearing the concerto, one cannot help but dream about what a wonderful and passionate performance the premiere must have been. One can hear Schumann's adoration for Clara etched into every movent, from the sparkling and brilliant "Allegro affettuoso" to the slower, sweeter "Intermezzo: Andantino grazioso" to the more powerful and vibrant "Allegro vivace...
...reverberation. Even though orchestral entrances are almost always well-synchronized, the subsequent lag time in the hall results in an acoustic clouding that renders the sound more two-dimensional than one might expect. Very exposed passages (e.g. the wind soli at the beginning of the second symphony's Allegretto grazioso) suffer less from the reverberation, and the sheen makes up for the slight lack of warmth. A final quibble: the effect of dynamic contrast is also dulled to a certain extent, with the ends seemingly a bit truncated at both ends of the spectrum...
...couple of botched passages by pianist Loeb couldn't come close to spoiling the rapt beauty of the Andante tranquillo and Allegretto grazioso. Here one heard a surprisingly fine rapport between pianist and violinist, though the balance was too far slanted toward the violin. Loeb seemed too close to the edge of the keys, and his sound was not as well defined as it might have been...
...first movement with a good response to the contrapuntal themes and development which ran through this piece. It is marked "moderately fast, with vigor," and the group really did plunge into the work. Mighty drum rolls vied for attention with the forceful brasses. But the following Andantino grazioso was not so dynamic, and the listless tones detracted somewhat from the verve of the first movement...