WordWealth: auspicious

aus·pi·cious (o-'spi-sh&s), adj.

Equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, all in the same rotary direction, usually clockwise. It is used widely throughout the world as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune. In India, it continues to be the most common auspicious symbol of Hindus and Jains, as well as for Buddhists, for whom it symbolizes the Buddha's feet or footprints. In China and Japan, where it traveled with the spread of Buddhism, it has been used to denote plurality, prosperity, and long life. It occurs as a motif in early Christian and Byzantine art, as well as in Maya and Navajo art. The counterclockwise swastika, suggested as a general anti-Semitic symbol in 1910 by the German poet and nationalist Guido von List, was adopted as the symbol of the Nazi Party at its founding in 1919-20. —— The Britannica Concise

This is a highly auspicious beginning to the Florestans' survey of the Beethoven piano trios, which successfully applies the qualities that characterised the group's accounts of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Schubert for Hyperion to these more taut and rigorous musical arguments. Like all successful ensembles, the members of the trio preserve their separate musical identities while still creating a collective persona: Anthony Marwood's nervously charged, energised violin provides the ideal counterweight to Richard Lester's warmer, more relaxed cello, while Susan Tomes's piano adds the colour, and moments of insight and poetry. The sheer ebullience of the playing in the outer movements of the Ghost Trio Op 70 no 1, for instance, is totally convincing. —— Andrew Clements in Beethoven, the Guardian, Jan 24, 2003

Schulberg was optimistic, however, that in light of a number of auspicious new developments, this state of affairs could change. Independent movie production, he noted, seemed to be increasing, and some of the major studios were now hiring younger, more creative producers. And moviegoers, many of whom had been disappointed with the quality of the Special Services movies they had been subjected to during the war, now seemed to be raising their sights. If the movie business could raise its sights as well, he suggested, the art form might have an important future ahead. —— Flashbacks Lights, Camera, Action!, The Atlantic, March 18, 2002

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