The Barber Chair

Started by Szykneij, August 13, 2007, 06:50:40 AM

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DavidRoss

#60
July 06, 2009, 06:27:25 AM
Quote from: opus106 on July 06, 2009, 06:11:22 AM
It was a one-time listen, on an internet station. Definitely Romantic, but it was good to be discovering and listening to 'new' works, a VC especially, after a gap. I haven't actually purchased a CD yet. :) Do you have a favourite recording?
My recommendation--having heard a few--is the Gil Shaham disc coupled with a fine Korngold VC.  Previn/LSO. 
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Opus106

#61
July 06, 2009, 06:30:18 AM
OK. Thanks. ;D

Addendum: Thank you, David. :)
Regards,
Navneeth

karlhenning

#62
July 06, 2009, 06:31:13 AM
Quote from: DavidRoss on July 06, 2009, 06:27:25 AM
My recommendation--having heard a few--is the Gil Shaham disc coupled with a fine Korngold VC.  Previn/LSO. 

I'll thank you, too!

bhodges

#63
July 06, 2009, 07:03:15 AM
I have Elmar Oliveira with Slatkin/St. Louis--excellent, and coupled with a very good performance of Hanson's Second Symphony--and Hilary Hahn with Hugh Wolff/SPCO which is also wonderful, although I haven't quite warmed up to the Meyer coupling.

--Bruce

Opus106

#64
July 06, 2009, 07:54:48 AM
It is likely that any recording I buy will be coupled with a work that I'm unfamiliar with. That's good!
Regards,
Navneeth

karlhenning

#65
July 06, 2009, 07:56:46 AM
Quote from: opus106 on July 06, 2009, 07:54:48 AM
It is likely that any recording I buy will be coupled with a work that I'm unfamiliar with. That's good!

That's the spirit!

not edward

#66
July 06, 2009, 10:28:03 AM
I've got Stern on Sony coupled with the Browning recording of the piano concerto. Haven't really heard any others, so I can't comment, but these make a fine case for the works as far as I can see.
"I don't at all mind actively disliking a piece of contemporary music, but in order to feel happy about it I must consciously understand why I dislike it. Otherwise it remains in my mind as unfinished business."
-- Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music

listener

#67
March 10, 2010, 06:06:19 PM
American composer Samuel Barber would have been 100 years old Tuesday.

Full story from National Public Radio at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124495237
"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

Christo

#68
March 11, 2010, 12:29:29 AM
Thanks!

When I first heard a piece by Barber, he was still alive. Back in 1978 I heard his Second Essay for Orchestra, in a very fitting atmosphere. It was a hot Summer afternoon leading directly into a typical hot weather thunderstorm. It made a hugh impression, one that has never left me and is still there when I hear the piece. My favourite recording is still the same too: David Measham conducting the LSO.

                                 

... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

vandermolen

#69
March 11, 2010, 05:40:06 AM
Quote from: Christo on March 11, 2010, 12:29:29 AM
Thanks!

When I first heard a piece by Barber, he was still alive. Back in 1978 I heard his Second Essay for Orchestra, in a very fitting atmosphere. It was a hot Summer afternoon leading directly into a typical hot weather thunderstorm. It made a hugh impression, one that has never left me and is still there when I hear the piece. My favourite recording is still the same too: David Measham conducting the LSO.

                                 

This is my favourite recording too of my favourite Barber work alongside Symphony 1 and Knoxville.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

DavidRoss

#70
March 11, 2010, 08:56:21 AM
Do y'all know this smoking video of the VC 3rd mvmt?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l54vemHn_fM
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Guido

#71
March 12, 2010, 06:23:08 AM
Great video!

Much though I adore every note that Barber ever wrote (that's not really an exageration!) there's one piece that I can't stand - the Agnus Dei choral arrangement of the Adagio for Strings - its so much worse than the original in every regard! I imagine it makes the Barber estate quite a lot of money though. A very (very) rare lapse in judgment from Sam here.
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

karlhenning

#72
March 12, 2010, 07:23:36 AM
I'm not at all happy with that adaptation, either, FWIW, Guido.

eyeresist

#73
March 14, 2010, 11:15:08 PM
Quote from: Guido on March 12, 2010, 06:23:08 AM
there's one piece that I can't stand - the Agnus Dei choral arrangement of the Adagio for Strings - its so much worse than the original in every regard!

What exactly is wrong with it? I have the Shaw recording. It's not as brilliant as the orchestral version, but it's nice to hear the piece in a different setting.

karlhenning

#74
March 15, 2010, 03:11:51 AM
Quote from: eyeresist on March 14, 2010, 11:15:08 PM
What exactly is wrong with it? I have the Shaw recording. It's not as brilliant as the orchestral version, but it's nice to hear the piece in a different setting.

For one thing, it doesn't suit the text.  The music is composed in a way which drives to a magnificent climax, a 'shape' which is entirely at odds with the thrice-repeated quasi-litany text.

Guido

#75
March 15, 2010, 03:49:39 AM
That's the most important objection from a text setting point of view of course, but also, the words are so spread out and arbitrarily arranged with the music that it may as well be wordless choir.

Second is the fearsome difficulty of it - usually Barber's choral writing is challenging but still completely singable and idiomatic.  What suits a string orchestra absolutely magnificently becomes strained and unbelievably taxing on an 8 part choir - tuning is a bear, maintaining the intensity and crescendo from pp to ff in one fluid arc is incredibly hard for voices. I've never heard it sung satisfactorily live - and even on recordings its not always done perfectly.

Finally (and this is just personally) there's something just slightly ersatz about it - likes its a mockery of true religiosity. It's hard to know why I get this feeling - it may be just as simple as the text being pasted onto a piece that was composed with no religious intent trying to expressed. Barber's own religious feelings are beautifully contained within his The Prayers of Kierkegaard, which is a masterful and truly affecting work, one of his greatest achievements.
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

Mirror Image

#76
May 08, 2011, 09:34:02 PM Last Edit: May 08, 2011, 10:09:21 PM by Mirror Image
Quote from: Szykneij on August 13, 2007, 06:50:40 AMI also admire his violin concerto and wonder if anyone can recommend their favorite recordings. I have the Isaac Stern version with Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.

Hilary Hahn is my favorite in this concerto, but I also like Joshua Bell's reading with Zinman on Decca. I'm less impressed with Perlman, Shaham, and Stern. This has been a favorite concerto of mine for many years now. The last movement never fails to baffle me though. It seems so oddly out-of-place, but I think it's fine as virtuoso showcase, which is all it is really as it doesn't contain any of the lyricism of the previous movements.

I think Barber's music treaded a very fine line between Romanticism and Modernism. As I have read in various articles, he didn't really belong to any school of thought. He simply created the music he wanted to create. It's honestly quite hard to pinpoint influences in Barber's music as it is so enigmatic and all over the place, but he always is emotionally direct in his music and beauty is never far from the surface, which is why he has remained a favorite of mine for quite some time.

Szykneij

#77
May 09, 2011, 05:34:10 PM
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 08, 2011, 09:34:02 PM
Hilary Hahn is my favorite in this concerto, but I also like Joshua Bell's reading with Zinman on Decca. I'm less impressed with Perlman, Shaham, and Stern. This has been a favorite concerto of mine for many years now. The last movement never fails to baffle me though. It seems so oddly out-of-place, but I think it's fine as virtuoso showcase, which is all it is really as it doesn't contain any of the lyricism of the previous movements.

Thanks, MI! I waited nearly 4 years for that!   :)
Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. ~ Satchel Paige

Mirror Image

#78
May 09, 2011, 05:36:17 PM
Quote from: Szykneij on May 09, 2011, 05:34:10 PM
Thanks, MI! I waited nearly 4 years for that!   :)

Lol...well better late than never, right? ;)

Scion7

#79
April 30, 2012, 05:46:59 PM
Quote from: sarabande on February 25, 2008, 12:45:21 PM
About the violin concerto-- I forget the violinist who originally commissioned the work, but the violinist was extremely disappointed with the first two movements-- not very "show off" material, and he griped to Barber about it.  So Barber ended up writing that dizzying finale and then the violinist complained that it was unplayable.  I forget if Barber actually got the commission money, but he found another violinist to premiere the work.  LOL

The truth about the matter was somewhat late in coming out but can be found at: http://www.isobriselli.com/index.php



When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."
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