The lyrics are mildly plaintive love poems and the music does not so much excite passion as entertain soothingly.
It weaves a delicate melodic tracery with whole-tone scales over a sustained backdrop, with hints of shepherd pipes, plaintive cantillation phrases and fragmentary dance rhythms.
One dog that died had been: uttering his plaintive howls on the march, a thing one never hears a dog do while working.
Combining with this virtual sound-world, the trio's main contribution, apart from plaintive folk-like music at the opening and in a few other key passages, was ostinato-based obbligato work.
As has been stated, we have heard many times the rather plaintive cries about the benefits to be won by competition.
He has made plaintive excuses for the economic necessity of their actions.
Perhaps, we shall come to some plaintive little tune on the flutes as a finale, and then perhaps hear no more of it.
I call it a plaintive bleat because in some degree it is hypocritical.
