He has sympathetic partners in the pianist Craig Taborn and the bassist William Parker.

The violinist could hardly have found a more sympathetic partner than his sister, Katja Cerovsek, a talented pianist.

Mr. Previn and the orchestra were sympathetic partners in the Mozart.

Mexico is in a bad way, too, and needs a sympathetic partner, not a neighborhood boss.

Whatever the case, Mr. Amendola has sympathetic partners both within and well beyond the Bay Area scene.

William DeGregory and Mr. Carroll were the women's quietly sympathetic partners.

His sympathetic partner in this approach was James Levine, who conducted elegant, animated and beautifully detailed accounts of each work.

We don't have any hard currency, and here Fidel is fighting with his friends," he said referring to Spain, which has been Cuba's most sympathetic Western partner.

And in the drummer Roy Haynes and the bassist Gary Peacock, he found very sympathetic partners.

But the issue of marital balance may be neutralized, especially if the mayor is perceived as the less sympathetic partner in his family arrangement.