Word: webern
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JOSEPH SZIGETI (Mercury). The 74-year-old violinist plays mostly sonatas by four modern masters: Debussy, Ives, Honegger and Webern. The Debussy Sonata in C Minor is competent interpretation, but Szigeti really excels in tenser linear works -the eclectic Ives in his only violin sonata and the neo-Baroque Honegger (Sonata No. 7), with its complex, difficult ornamentation, sound fresh and clear. The record's highlight is four pieces (Opus 7) by Anton Webern, none longer than 72 seconds, in which the stripped-down starkness of modern music and its intolerance of repetition or romance are emphasized by Szigeti...
Technically, the orchestra performed best in the Webern, perhaps because it was limited to a small group. And assistant conductor William Conable had impressive control over the group's dynamics and rhythm...
Symphony, Opus 21, is one of Webern's more interesting pieces. It is far more sonorous than most, more relaxed, and is said to be one of the best examples of Webern's orchestration of silence. (It is sometimes said that he has done with silence what Giacommetti, according to Sartre, has done with empty space.) Anyway, the appeal is more an intellectual than an emotional one. At least, I didn't notice anyone break into tears...
...Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra performs at 8:30 tonight in Sanders Theatre. The program will consist of Vivaldi's "Concerto for Flute and Strings," Karen Monson, soloist; Webern's "Symphony Opus 21," William Conable, guest conductor; Brahm's "Piano Concerto #1," Ursula Oppens...
...soulful martyr but still seems no more than a fierce embodiment of divine purpose, as stiff and one-dimensional as those who have gone before. The movie sags at the center, weighed down by interminable closeups and sermons. The sound track swells with passages from Bach, Mozart, Prokofiev, Webern, an African Mass and-as an odd counterpoint to the Nativity-Odetta's recording of Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child. The strength of Pasolini's Gospel rests on those moments when he forgoes static, calendar-art conventions to fill the screen with direct, provocative and eloquent glimpses...