Many pianists bring an almost Impressionistic quality to the pages of sweeping, delicate passage work in this quasi-mystical piece.
CHAMONIX-MONT-BLANC, France — With the sun rising around 5 a.m. on Thursday, about 30 climbers reached a delicate passage high in the French Alps and slowed, closing ranks.
"Delicate Passage With China," your April 3 editorial about the collision between a Chinese combat jet and an American spy plane, calls for a carefully measured response in a potentially dangerous situation.
All this tells you something, as does Ms. Knightley and Mr. Garfield's droopy, loose-limbed physicality, which has none of the coiled energy of youth and serves the story, even if neither actor can manage its delicate passages.
Her form of ballet — the women were on pointe — with its extreme extensions and sensual partnering, formed the core of the piece, but the more delicate, subtle passages spoke just as forcefully.
Best of all, she has an operatically trained voice that can easily slip into the delicate, nuanced passages of Tin Pan Alley songs.
Then came a waltz section using an eastern scale, a delicate acoustic guitar passage played by Dave Gilmore, a tolling, repeated, lonely piano chord to accompany Boris Kozlov's bass solo, then back to waltz time again.
Delicate, poignant guitar passages melted into percussive sections; soothing repetitive tones gave way to strident riffs.
Her stick movement closely matched the music's character, turning delicate for gentle passages, small for accompanying strings, larger for a horn and oboe melody.
Comba N3, with its pensive flugelhorn and delicate alto-sax passages, and the lovely Old Ballad (a Wheeler staple) are among the highlights of another essential item for followers of Britain's most reluctant jazz hero.
However, the dynamic contrasts produced by opposing these onslaughts immediately with delicate filigree piano passages worked wonderfully, and it says much for his mannered music that the albums from this period (1953-56) remare asexcitingitinownow as they were then.
