The final "Matsu-mukae," a prayer for world peace, took a more somber approach as two men, Hiroki Tanaka and Yasuyuki Ishiguro, mirrored each other's movements.
And the sets usually begin with an upbeat number like "Bourbon Street Parade" or "I'll Fly Away," though the band took a more somber approach after Hurricane Katrina, opening with "Billie's Blues," named after Billie Pierce, the band's first pianist.
"I can tell you when I was in there throughout the evening, the somber approach that our firefighters and Alameda County Sheriff's department members took to this search," she said.
Reviewing a 1986 performance for The New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote that Ms. Benjamin "treated the songs as languorous phrases floating above the beat, with carefully turned glides and curves and delicate shifts of timbre — a graceful, somber, pared-down approach".
(The show is punctuated by the choral commentary of five lieder singers, who are always asking, "Remember, darling?") Even if it deprives us of a knock-'em-dead rendition of the great first-act finale number, "A Weekend in the Country," this somber, less-is-more approach could be effective were the ensemble plugged into the same rueful sensibility.
His diagnostic, New York set drug drama Clockers (1995), meanwhile, was characterized by its somber visual and tonal approach, save for the occasional stylistic flourish.
And as the movie becomes more and more nocturnal, approaching its somber, portentous ending, there is a new sense of emotional darkness devouring both the characters and the image.
Mr. Cheney's goal last night was to do no harm to Mr. Bush's candidacy and to reinforce, in somber tones, the Republican attack on Mr. Gore's approach to government.
Although its principal causes — prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men's mental health — are somber, it takes a lighter approach.
The announcement of the crackdown in Qinghai Province in western China comes as the number of self-immolations reported in Tibetan parts of the country over the past four years approached 100, a somber milestone that has appeared to spur efforts by the Chinese police and officials to crack down on people and groups seeking greater freedom for Tibetans.
Except perhaps for the slightly flashy handsome blue-and-silver label on its 2004 Block E wine ($39.99 a half bottle), Macari's rather somber labels imply an understated stylistic approach to winemaking.
