Thanks for linking your review of the Sondheim book. I've only glanced at parts of it, but based on what I've seen, I agree with your assessment and I think all your examples are good ones, although I would add that he must have meant "It Would Have Been Wonderful," not "In Praise of Women.' (Not to mention that I think it's kind of iffy to say that "It Would Have Been Wonderful" is in waltz time since everything except Fredrik's opening is in 9/8, but it's true that "In Praise of Women" is in 3/4. It is, however, a polonaise. Is a polonaise also inherently a waltz? I don't know.) The book seems to be full of a lot of half-digested facts so he ends up too often making statements that are at best kind of questionable, along with ones that are just wrong. |