I would go so far as to claim that, in Chuzzlewit, you find the most sustained passage of comic writing in English literature, namely chapters eight and nine when the Pecksniff family go to London.
So I asked the whole orchestra to play a sustained passage pianissimo, rather like driving a Ferrari at 20 mph, a thing of enormous potential power but just ticking over".
His breath control was phenomenal, especially in the long sustained passages containing many small notes in an incredibly fast tempo.
Hans Thomalla's "Lied" (2008), for piano, vibraphone and saxophone, was an uninspiring succession of hazily sustained passages and fortissimo honks.
The vocal lines combine skittish, darting leaps with gentle sustained passages, which Ms. Soper navigated ably but timidly.
Though the tenor Gordon Gietz had occasional moments of vocal strain during high, sustained passages, he brought an engaging youthful ardor to his portrayal of Ferrando.
The band members came and went, shifting instruments with Ms. Williams's whims, but each arrangement was precise, with shimmering sustained passages and jaunty, rolling vamps.
Of course, on screen, as anyone who has seen Contact knows, this is one of the most tense, thrilling, brilliantly sustained passages in any movie, ever.
Enigmatic melodic phrases come and go, alternating with quietly whirling figures, skittish pizzicati bursts, sustained passages of pungent atonal harmonies, and more.
In sustained passages she is often impressive, especially in the middle and upper-middle range where her sound is at its best: warm, vibrant and ample without being forced.
This 20-minute piece comes across as a series of quizzical, sustained passages: over some foundation, like repeated bass notes, pitches pile up to form a tremulous chord, and quietly restless musical events break out: fluttering woodwind motifs, fidgety percussion riffs.
