Adagio

For a string player an adagio is technically demanding in a way fast music is not: long bows expose every unevenness of tone, intonation has time to be heard, and there is nowhere for a shift to hide. Slow movements are where a section’s quality is actually audible.

The bow becomes the whole problem. Sustaining a slow note requires distributing the stroke so it does not run out, keeping the contact point steady as the speed drops, and using weight rather than speed for volume.

Largo is broader and usually slower still; lento is simply slow; grave is slow and heavy. Adagietto, as in Mahler’s Fifth, is a little faster and lighter than adagio.