Top 5 Favorite Barber Works

[SymphonicAddict]

Barber is one of my favorite American composers. Possibly, my list is something like this:

Essay No. 2 (majestic)
Symphony No. 1
Cello concerto
Knoxville (or Toccata Festiva)
Prayers of Kierkegaard (a recent discovery)

[Mirror Image]

Where is this poll?  So far, all you've done is make comments on the lists of others.

I meant thread. Not poll. Sorry.

[Madiel]

Edit: I see orfeo and Mr. Bloom voted for some of the songs. Sorry, guys!

Yes, and of course that was on the basis of the set that has now bowled you over. The irony now is that I have all these orchestral works I didn't previously own and would have to reconsider my list.

[Mirror Image]

Yes, and of course that was on the basis of the set that has now bowled you over. The irony now is that I have all these orchestral works I didn't previously own and would have to reconsider my list.

Ironic, indeed. I would certainly like to know which orchestral works have made a strong impression on you.

[Madiel]

Ironic, indeed. I would certainly like to know which orchestral works have made a strong impression on you.

Off the top of my head, Knoxville and the Medea suite were things previously unknown that I definitely responded to.

[Mirror Image]

Off the top of my head, Knoxville and the Medea suite were things previously unknown that I definitely responded to.

Very fine works, indeed. I still believe that whatever criticism it continues to have that his Symphony No. 2 is a fine work. It's an uneven work for sure, but the first and second movements are outstanding.

[vandermolen]

Barber is one of my favorite American composers. Possibly, my list is something like this:

Essay No. 2 (majestic)
Symphony No. 1
Cello concerto
Knoxville (or Toccata Festiva)
Prayers of Kierkegaard (a recent discovery)

Don't know the last work but otherwise totally agree.

[SymphonicAddict]

Don't know the last work but otherwise totally agree.

Prayers of Kierkegaard is a very fine work and it's worth listening to, without reservations.

[André]

Classics

- Knoxville: Summer of 1915
- Adagio for Strings - or its choral version, « Agnus Dei »
- violin concerto
- scenes from Anthony and Cleopatra sung by Leontyne Price.
- symphony no 1

[Mirror Image]

Don't know the last work but otherwise totally agree.

Jeffrey, I whole-heartedly recommend Barber's songs. I know you're an orchestral fan, but there's an intimacy in these settings that an orchestra simply can never capture. Check out Hermit Songs, 3 Songs, and 4 Songs. Of course, Dover Beach is a masterpiece IMHO. Also, the piano music is of very high quality like the Piano Sonata and Excursions. Do you know the cantata, The Lovers? Another notch in an already long history of stellar works.

[vandermolen]

Prayers of Kierkegaard is a very fine work and it's worth listening to, without reservations.

Thanks Caesar - will do.

[vandermolen]

Jeffrey, I whole-heartedly recommend Barber's songs. I know you're an orchestral fan, but there's an intimacy in these settings that an orchestra simply can never capture. Check out Hermit Songs, 3 Songs, and 4 Songs. Of course, Dover Beach is a masterpiece IMHO. Also, the piano music is of very high quality like the Piano Sonata and Excursions. Do you know the cantata, The Lovers? Another notch in an already long history of stellar works.

Dover Beach is great (VW told the young Barber that he preferred Barber's setting to his own). Knoxville is one of my favourite Barber works and I like Copland's 'Old American Songs'. As I've got older I've learned to appreciate more chamber and vocal works, probably via works like VW's 'On Wenlock Edge' and 'Five Mystical Songs' which I loved from my early LP collecting days. Only opera and country and western music still remain blind spots for me.

[Mirror Image]

Dover Beach is great (VW told the young Barber that he preferred Barber's setting to his own). Knoxville is one of my favourite Barber works and I like Copland's 'Old American Songs'. As I've got older I've learned to appreciate more chamber and vocal works, probably via works like VW's 'On Wenlock Edge' and 'Five Mystical Songs' which I loved from my early LP collecting days. Only opera and country and western music still remain blind spots for me.

Yes, Vaughan Williams actually told Barber, "I've tried to set 'Dover Beach' many times, but I think you got it!". Barber later revealed in an interview that this was the first compliment he ever received from another composer. Knoxville is amazing. I need to revisit Copland's Old American Songs, but I still believe it's his 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson that is the finer work.

[kyjo]

Violin Concerto
Symphony no. 1
Essay no. 3 (underrated)
Cello Sonata
Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Honorable mention: Music for a Scene from Shelley

[anothername]

Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Vanessa.

Hermit Songs.

Medea Suite

Adagio for string

In that order.

[Daverz]

I have the Hanson recording of the suite, so I probably have, but will have to refresh my memory.

I see this recording of Cave of the Heart on Tidal:



https://tidal.com/album/44316010

Following up to my own post, the full ballet is interesting to hear once, but in the end I prefer the focus of "Meditation and Dance".

[arpeggio]

One that I may be able to answer:

First Symphony
Commando March
Piano Concerto
Medea Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Adagio for Strings