word of the day: punctilious

The word of the day is punctilious:

 

extremely attentive to punctilios; strict or exact in the observance of the formalities or amenities of conduct or actions (dictionary.com)

You remember punctilio.


"'There is a point in the perfection of artistic skills beyond which further progress is without artistic value,' the composer and critic Virgil Thomson wrote of the Boston Symphony, in 1944.  'The surface becomes so shiny that nothing else can be perceived.'...  The Boston Symphony is 'overtrained,' he says, its punctiliousness leading to 'executional hypertrophy.'  Phrases are so polished that they become inert; narrative dissolves into immaculate moments.  'The music it plays never seems to be about anything, except how beautifully the Boston Symphony Orchestra can play.'"

 - Alex Ross, "Brushfires: Andris Nelsons energizes the Boston Symphony", 1 December 2014 The New Yorker


I once had a choir director like that.  We sang better than we did with the previous director, but we completely lost touch with what we were singing about.