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Sustained — hold notes to their full value, with a broad, singing quality.
Sostenuto asks for sustained, connected playing with weight on every note. It implies a slight slowing and broadening. Use it for noble, hymn-like passages that need dignity and breadth.
Elgar's Cello Concerto, first movement — the opening solo is marked Adagio sostenuto, the cello sustaining each note with the full weight of the bow.
Sostenuto is one of 228 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary, where every definition is written around how composers actually use the word.
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