Lorin Maazel's stately conducting seemed, at times, to glide over the surface of the Requiem, more concerned to illuminate its musical rockface than unlock its deeper passions.
It is for the stately conducting of Tullio Serafin, the fine Germont of Mario Sereni but, most of all, for the angelic Violetta of Victoria de los Angeles that one pays heed.
He also conducted a stately, poised and elegant account of Mozart's "Linz" Symphony.
With a tone at once magisterial and personal, learned but accessible, the historian and curator Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos (well served by a sympathetic squadron of translators) conducts a stately promenade through the 23 centuries since a Celtic people called the Parisii settled on the Seine's Île de la Cité.
Although the dressage demands tight concentration, and is conducted in a stately, almost casual, manner, the pressure is intense on the horses and riders.
For more than a quarter-century, while Roman Catholic leaders around the country have closed parochial schools by the dozens in the face of rising costs and falling enrollments, the Archdiocese of New York has conducted a more stately retreat.
The profile is hefty, at 15,000 words, so the interview, conducted in Talese's stately Upper East Side townhouse, was split up over two days.
For the first time, fewer marriages (84,400) were held in churches and other religious institutions than in "approved premises" such as stately homes and hotels, which are now allowed to conduct civil ceremonies (88,710).
Following tradition, the concert began with Mr. Maazel conducting the national anthem in his trademark stately manner.
Best known for its stately museums on the National Mall, the 164-year-old Smithsonian also conducts wide-ranging scientific research, part of its original mission to increase and spread knowledge.
State Street may still need to become less stately.
