Mildly Ornery and Defensive

Today's representative phrase from the New York Times arts section is "a mildly ornery and defensive lyric over a sketch of lush harmonies to come." And now I will continue to build my epic poem composed of representative phrases from the New York Times arts section, like so: "After some conversation and homemade sorbet,/ I watched a world of wonders unfold -/ a mildly ornery and defensive lyric/ over a sketch of lush harmonies to come./ Bass was played, largely superfluously,/ by Mr. Brenner./ The crowd for the most part swayed/ in reverent silence."