Barber: Adagio; Symphony No. 1; The School for Scandal; Essays

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
If you've got Schippers's superb Barber collection on Sony, then this is the only other Barber disc you are likely to need. Three of the pieces overlap, true, but the Symphony No. 1, the Music for a Scene from Shelley, and the Essay No. 1 are all unique to this disc, and together the two CDs will give you the essential Barber for orchestra. All of this music is extremely easy on the ear, but at the same time so commanding in utterance that it's hard to believe that Barber was considered a regressive, backward-looking composer during his lifetime. Now, when everyone is taking up the cause of tonality and melody once again, he sounds positively prophetic. David Zinman's performances are as fine as Schippers's, which is to say just about perfect. --David Hurwitz

Barber: Adagio; Symphony No. 1; The School for Scandal; Essays, Music, Samuel Barber, David Zinman, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, 20th/21st Century Orchestral Work with Descriptive Title, 20th/21st Century Orchestral Work with Formal Description, 20th/21st Century Overture, 20th/21st Century Symphony, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Orchestral, Symphonic, Transcription for Orchestra
Barber: Adagio; Symphony No. 1; The School for Scandal; Essays
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Barber Adagio for Strings
  • get it for the First Essay for Orchestra
  • Barber's First is an unsung masterpiece.
  • First reviewer!
 Barber: Adagio; Symphony No. 1; The School for Scandal; Essays

Manufacturer: Decca / Argo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:
  1. Samuel Barber / Thomas Schippers
  2. John Adams: Harmonielehre
  3. Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin; Hungarian Peasant Songs; Rumanian Folk Dances
  4. Beethoven - Missa Solemnis / Margiono * Robbin * Kendall * Miles * EBS * Gardiner
  5. Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11/Orchestral Music; Leonard Slatkin

ASIN: B000004CVV
Release Date: 1992-10-13

Tracks:

  1. Adagio for Strings (from String Quartet, op. 11)
  2. Overture to `The School for Scandal', op. 5
  3. First Essay For Orchestra, Op. 12
  4. Music For A Scene From Shelley, Op. 7
  5. Second Essay For Orchestra, Op. 17
  6. Symphony No. 1 (in one movement), Op. 9: Allegro, ma non troppo
  7. Symphony No. 1 (in one movement), Op. 9: Allegro molto
  8. Symphony No. 1 (in one movement), Op. 9: Andante tranquillo
  9. Symphony No. 1 (in one movement), Op. 9: Con moto

Amazon.com

If you've got Schippers's superb Barber collection on Sony, then this is the only other Barber disc you are likely to need. Three of the pieces overlap, true, but the Symphony No. 1, the Music for a Scene from Shelley, and the Essay No. 1 are all unique to this disc, and together the two CDs will give you the essential Barber for orchestra. All of this music is extremely easy on the ear, but at the same time so commanding in utterance that it's hard to believe that Barber was considered a regressive, backward-looking composer during his lifetime. Now, when everyone is taking up the cause of tonality and melody once again, he sounds positively prophetic. David Zinman's performances are as fine as Schippers's, which is to say just about perfect. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Barber Adagio for Strings.......2007-05-15

There were several selections on this CD by Samuel Barbermwhich made it very desireable. All of the selections are outstanding and the interpretations are the best.

4 out of 5 stars get it for the First Essay for Orchestra.......2003-01-18

listen to the above sample and think about your eventual demise.

5 out of 5 stars Barber's First is an unsung masterpiece........2000-07-18

As symphonies go, Barber's First is an "unsung hero." Even the composer didn't give it anywhere near the credit that it deserves. I have approximately 4,000 CD's, of which @3,000 are classical CD's, and this remains one of my all time favorite "albums." "The Symphony" is my favoite "classical genre." I have recordings of more than 300 symphonies from all eras, and Barber's First would easily be counted among my 25 favorites; and despite the merits of excellent works in this genre by Copland, Harris, Hanson, and Schuman, among others, Barber's First is my favorite "American Symphony." The performances and recording are about as perfect as they can be, and this is one of those rare surveys of a composer's music that can be confidently called, "definitive."

Barber, himself, apparently had unrealistic expectations for his own First Symphony, withdrawing it soon after completing it. Listeners familiar with Sibelius' Seventh may notice a similarity in form between the two works, and Barber did indeed intend to emulate Sibelius' concise four-sections-in-one movement symphonic form. Barber may have thought his symphony didn't live up to Sibelius' model, but I think it's every bit as effective as the Finnish master's valedictory statement on the genre.

Barber's First goes well with his two best Essays for Orchestra, because it seems like a tightly constructed, passionately argued, extended essay in itself. The first section, which is about twice as long as any of the subsequent three, is launched with a drum roll and layers of orchestral sound quickly built up like glowing storm clouds gathering at dusk. After this passionate opening statement, Barber ardently introduces the themes of each of the three attaca sections that follow. The tumultuous second section roughly corresponds to a symphonic scherzo. The slow, introspective third section, which begins with one of the most raptly beautiful themes I've ever heard, is built up masterfully from piannisimo oboe and string pizzicatos to full orchestra. The fourth section serves as a finale - and what a finale! - built up to a satisfyingly unresolved-sounding conclusion, with a surge of momentum driven by majestic brass and resounding bass drum.

The rest of the pieces on this disc are wonderful, as well, especially the two greatest of Barber's three "Essays," which have an epic sweep and an atmosphere of twilight on great American expanses. To me, an atmosphere of rapt twilight, glowing on mesas and mountains, has always pervaded these pieces, but that's obviously the most subjective part of my review.

Zinman's interpretations, and his wonderful orchestra's performances, are as passionately and concisely argued as Barber's compositions, and the sound has amazing depth and dynamic range which gives a crispness of attack to the brass and percussion so important to this music, but with a breadth and fullness that is generally missing from Jarvi's and Slatkin's recordings. This orchestra's beautiful string sound comes across ripe and full, as well. Barber's First is one of the last great Romantic symphonies, and deserves more recognition as one of the truly great works of American music, as well as the "classical repertoire." Yes, this may very well be "the only Barber disc you'll ever need," as this disc also includes my favorite performance and recording of the ubiquitous, but no less beautiful, "Adagio."

5 out of 5 stars First reviewer!.......2000-01-09

This was one of the first classical CDs I ever purchased...and to date, I think it has been my favorite. I can't believe no one has reviewed it yet! The music is, of course, the most important aspect of this release, but the cover, photos, and liner notes are all top notch. If I am not mistaken, the notes give information even on the equipment used in recording. Zinman's approach to the pieces seems just right: never too fast, never too slow. The orchestra covers the entire dynamic (and dramatic) range over the course of the selections...coming in like a lamb and out like a lion. Some of the pieces are strange upon a first listen, but subsequent quiet evenings spent with this CD as a companion, and all is forgiven. Even if the other selections are to harsh, buying the CD for Adagio for Strings alone is worth it. Fans of Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs and the slow movement of Mahler's 5th should love this.

Music Review:

  1. Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 24 "À Thérèse" & 29 "Hammerklavier"
  2. Beethoven: Sonatas for piano No29; Sonatas for piano No3
  3. Beethoven: String Quartet, Op. 127; Piano Sonata, Op. 101
  4. Bellini - I Capuleti e i Montecchi / Kasarova · Mei · Vargas · Chiummo · Alberghini · R. Abbado [Box set]
  5. Bernstein Century: Holst: Planets; Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance
  6. Best of Kiri Te Kanawa / Mozart, Wagner, Puccini, Schumann, Legrand
  7. Brahms: Symphony No.1, Haydn Variations [Import]
  8. Britten: Cello Symphony, op. 68; Sinfonia da Requiem, op. 20; Cantata misericordium, op. 69
  9. Cambridge Singers A Cappella
  10. Chausson: Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet

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