I do not mean to sound presumptuous: "Art is an austere thing which has its sacred moments," Le Corbusier wrote, and I like to think of the art of reading in this exact way.
Mr. Pask said that since his set designs for the theater were on "the more austere side of things," he was careful not to make the Broadway theme too literal or garish.
I certainly don't doubt her when she claims to have an "austere temperament". The thing is, I have a sneaking suspicion that it all goes back to her mantra of being faithful to herself -- a lesson every woman, whether French or Floridian -- should learn.
That, I gathered, depends, like so much else, on our austere Treasury, on tiresome things like exports and so ultimately, I suppose, on us.
Mr. Towner, for his part, kept things sparse, almost austere, making each chord feel solemn and illuminated.
It's easy to make the work into a more public tribute, but Salonen kept things controlled and austere, making it more effective as a result.
His living space is spartan and austere, with only a few things in it, including an icon of St Francis, a statue of the patron saint of his native Argentina, a crucifix and a statue of St Joseph asleep.
And having gone through a period where I was into stories that weren't strictly stories, like James Joyce or Samuel Beckett, things that were austere enough so the story was reduced to a very simple idea, almost like a word.
A good way to survey the broader field is to examine the most important aesthetic ideas that have arisen in the course of the tradition, all of them before aesthetics was formally established as a discipline: namely, mono no aware (the pathos of things), wabi (subdued, austere beauty), sabi (rustic patina), yūgen (mysterious profundity), iki (refined style), and kire (cutting).
Down the Mountain finds him exploring slow-resonating organ and synth sounds on the production end of things, creating an austere sense of space to accompany his deliberate, measured, and ebbingly cathartic vocals.
