Samuel Barber

1. CHILDHOOD

Samuel Barber was born March 9th, 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He grew up in a middle-class family with his father, a doctor and respected member of the Episcopalian community, his mother, an amateur piano player of Irish descent, and his sister Sara, three years younger. Very early in life, Samuel took piano lessons from his mother and his first teacher, William Hatton Green. Before long, his musical talent transpired. At six, he writes his first miniatures for piano and songs. His family and friends cultivate the young boy’s blooming talent. His aunt Louise Homer, a prominent contralto of the New York Metropolitan Opera, together with his uncle Sidney Homer, a famous composer of art songs, become his musical mentors. At nine, Samuel writes a letter to his mother, ending with those words: ‘I was meant to be a composer, and will be I’m sure.’ Driven by his ambition, he begins to write an opera, The Rose Tree, based on a libretto written by… the family cook. He only composes the first act, but the boy’s determination removes any doubt from his parents’ mind about their son’s musical talent. Mentored by Sidney Homer, Samuel studies music and plays the organ at a local church. Three years later, following an audition, the director of the Baltimore Musical College insists the Barbers send their son to study at the newly established Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

2. THE TRAINING YEARS

His intellectual and artistic training at the Curtis Institute will last ten years under the watchful eye of its founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok. Barber's teachers are as renowned as the composer Rosario Scalero, the singer Emilio de Gogorza, the pianist Isabelle Vengerova and the conductor Fritz Reiner. His talent develops quickly and lives up to expectations. Barber has his first success with the Overture "The School for Scandal", which wins him his first prize, while another prize for his Violin Sonata (the work has been lost since) allows him to pay for his first trip to Europe. Dover Beach, for baritone voice and string quartet, the Cello Sonata and The Music for a Scene from Shelley make him one of the most talented students in his class. While at the Institute, Samuel meets Gian Carlo Menotti, a young Italian who speaks in halting English, and becomes his friend and alter ego. In the summer, they travel together to France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. They visit Menotti's family in Italy and spend a few weeks studying at Scalero's house in the Aosta Valley. They also visit Arturo Toscanini who is on vacation near Lake Maggiore. After several meetings, Toscanini informs Barber that he would be interested in performing one of his works, one day. By the spring of 1935, Barber believes he still has not written a piece worth the trust the maestro has shown him. However, on three occasions his music is rewarded publicly : a radio show is dedicated to his compositions, his symphonic poem after Shelley is a tremendous success at Carnegie Hall, and the prestigious classical music publishing company G. Schirmer Inc. (New York) offers him his first contract. Before long, Barber is awarded a Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship and the American Prix de Rome, that gives him the opportunity to move to Italy and spend two years at the American Academy of Rome.

3. FROM ROME TO PARIS

While the stay in Rome does not prove personally exhilarating as Barber finds the atmosphere at the Academy particularly elitist and stifling, he composes some of his major works there. Among them, the First Symphony (in one movement), several songs including Sure on this Shining Night, the first Essay for Orchestra and, most noticeably, the String Quartet. The last was completed during a heavenly stay with Menotti in the countryside near Salzburg, Austria. Fully aware of the quality of its slow movement, Barber transcribes it for a string orchestra and sends it to Toscanini, along with the score of the Essay. Some time later, Toscanini returns the two pieces with no comment or explanation. Barber is bitterly disappointed. In reality, the maestro has memorized the two scores with the intent to perform the works with his NBC Symphony Orchestra at the end of 1938. The premi&eagrave;re of the Adagio and the Essay wins rapturous acclaim. The Adagio is particularly well received and immediately becomes part of musical history - partly because of the debate it stirs in The New York Times between the partisans of the musical avant-garde and those of 'modern melodic music'. The debate is of little influence as the success of the Adagio for Strings continues until today. Barber will later come to feel that his other compositions were too often overshadowed by the Adagio.
Towards the end of the 30's, then in charge of the Madrigal Chorus at the Curtis Institute, the composer focuses primarily on compositions for the choir. For the first time in Barber's career, his music appears to be linked to the outside reality of the times, with pieces such as A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map. Undoubtedly inspired by world tensions, Barber chooses a poem by the English writer Stephen Spender where the death of a soldier in the International Brigades is depicted during the Spanish Civil War. History soon impinges upon Barber's creative surroundings: while on vacation in Europe, working on the Violin Concerto commissioned by an industrial tycoon from Philadelphia, Barber is forced to leave France as the Nazi Germany threatens to enter the country. He completes the concerto onboard a transatlantic ship returning home to the United States. Energizing and vibrant, the Violin Concerto's finale soon becomes, and continues to be, the favorite of many violinists all over the world. An interesting note, the violinist for whom the concerto was commissioned eventually turned it down, deeming the last movement too different from the rest of the work.

4. IN TEMPORE BELLI

Back in America, Barber moves in with Menotti and accepts a chair of Professor of Orchestration at the Curtis Institute of Music. In addition, he becomes the youngest member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. But his now established position within the American artistic world does not relieve him of his duties as a citizen. Soon after the completion of his2nd Essay for Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Walter, Barber is drafted. Due to his bad eyesight and with the assistance of conductor Serge Koussevitzky, Barber manages to secure a clerical position in the United States Army. He begins composing music to keep up the morale of American troops. Corporal Barber writes the Commando March and Symphony No. 2 as a tribute to the US Army Air Corps. Barber flies along on several missions in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the pilots' experiences. Twenty years later, Barber would destroy the original score of the symphony and re-use the second movement as a symphonic poem that he'll quite appropriately rename Night Flight (a reference, this time, to Saint-Exupéry's novel and not to a war experience.)
In the midst of those troubled times, Barber and Menotti - with the financial support from Mary Louis Curtis Bok - purchase a house in Mount Kisco, in the leafy suburbs of New York City. This is a time of happiness for Barber. The house in the woods is named Capricorn and Barber, Menotti and the poet Robert Horan move in together, far from the urban hubbub. Life in the country home becomes an inspiration to the composer. There, he writes the Capricorn Concerto, a work reminiscent of a baroque concerto grosso, where three solo instruments seem to portray the three friends. Together with the Excursions for piano, completed at the end of 1942, the Capricorn Concerto is one of the few 'light-hearted' works Barber writes during those years..

5. COMMISSIONS

After the war, Barber experiences an intensely creative period on two fronts. While he meets many of the musicians and singers who are to become his ‘champions’, he is also greatly stimulated by commissions for genres he has not yet fully explored, such as ballet, instrumental music, vocal music with orchestra and opera. Thanks to the network of important figures of the American musical world he’s developed during the previous decade, the post-war period proves extremely fruitful for the composer. Through a private sponsor, conductor Serge Koussevitzky commissions Barber to write a concerto for his protégée, the Russian cellist Raya Garbousova. In 1942, the composer had previously committed to write a cantata for solo singer, choir and orchestra for Koussevitsky (he will eventually complete the Prayers of Kierkegaard in 1954). Barber immediately starts working on the Cello Concerto. Surprisingly, the collaboration with Garbousova generates some tension between the two, but Barber considers the concerto a masterpiece. In 1954, he even chooses to conduct it – something he very rarely did - with cellist Zara Nelsova for a Decca/London recording.
Another significant commission takes the shape of a ballet for the Martha Graham Dance Company, one of the most avant-garde American dance company of the time. Graham has already commissioned works by Aaron Copland and Carlos Chavez and she turns to Barber with a story based on the theme of Medea. Serpent Heart, written for chamber orchestra and later turned into a symphonic suite known as Cave of the Heart, receives much public and critic acclaim. (The choreography, however, is not greeted with the same enthusiasm.) In 1946, the Barber family is struck by two distressing events. Both Louise Homer and Barber’s father become seriously ill. A powerless witness to the physical degradation of his relatives, Barber composes a deeply nostalgic work after the short prose poem Knoxville, Summer 1915 by the American writer and journalist James Agee. It depicts a quiet evening in a Southern family, seen through the eyes of a child. Starting in a pastoral atmosphere, the descriptive music slowly turns into the unnerving confidence of a child questioning his place in the universe. The composer has never put so much of himself in his art before. The work is completed in April, 1947 and Barber’s aunt passes away in May, followed three months later by his father. The first performance of Knoxville, Summer of 1915 is sung by soprano Eleanor Steber at the dawn of her career.

In the fall of 1947, after a summer of mourning, Barber begins work on a piano sonata which he completes in the spring of 1949 after a tormented gestation period. Enthused by his new acquaintance, Vladimir Horowitz, (who has already performed three of Barber's four Excursions during the war) and boosted by a commission for the 25th anniversary of the League of Composers, Barber throws himself into the challenging piece. The work consists in four movements based on four distinct topics conveying Chopin, Rachmaninov, Liszt and Prokofiev. Each movement is of a different harmony including an attempt at dodecaphonic music, a complete novelty for Barber. The last movement, a furiously virtuoso fugue, takes time to compose. But the resulting score, heavy with an intense sense of drama, proves extremely efficient. The Sonata has since been regarded by pianists and the public alike as a masterwork in the repertoire.
In comparison to the painful birth of this monumental composition, Barber’s next three works sound more peaceful, almost like intervals. However, each of them exudes some form of darkness, expressed through the notion of time passing in the song-cycle Mélodies Passagères (dedicated to the French duo Francis Poulenc-Pierre Bernac), in the omnipresent quest for solitude of the Hermit Songs (based on anonymous lyrics by 8th-13th centuries Irish monks and sung by Leontyne Price), as well as in the autumnal atmosphere of the wind quintet, paradoxically called Summer Music. With Prayers of Kierkegaard, a mystical cantata for solo singer, mixed choir and orchestra, Barber embraces once again an ambitious form. However, in the mid 50’s, a new challenge awaits him.

6. AN AMERICAN MASTERWORK

That challenge comes from “The Met.” In 1952, Barber has refused an offer to write an operatic work from Rudolf Bing, the director of the New York Metropolitan Opera. Eventually, Barber agrees to compose his first opera if Menotti writes the libretto. Bing has no reason to refuse : having been awarded two Pulitzer Prizes for his operas, The Consul in 1950 then The Saint of Bleecker Street in 1955, Barber’s companion is already widely recognized as a highly talented drama-writer. Unexpectedly, the pair find their inspiration in the Seven Gothic Tales by the Danish writer Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen). The background atmosphere of the bitter-sweet opera Vanessa is set “in a Northern country, around 1905”. The story revolves around a middle–aged woman and her young niece, Erika. The woman is obsessed by her memory of a lost love and the young girl falls in love with a handsome man who takes refuge in their chalet in the middle of a snowstorm. Barber and Menotti put in place a cruel game of confused feelings versus the power of reason, set somewhere in between dreamland and reality. All in all, the plot is somewhat reminiscent of Schnitzler’s La Ronde or Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard.
Barber initially writes the role of Vanessa for Maria Callas, who comes to Capricorn during the summer of 1956 to read the libretto and listen to the music. Surprisingly, after the audition, the diva turns down the offered role. She legitimately feels that the real heroine of the drama is Erika, not Vanessa. The Yugoslav soprano Sena Jurinac is then chosen for the leading role but two weeks before the première, she unexpectedly cancels her engagement. Barber turns to the promising Eleanor Steber. The choice will prove a much inspired one : after her triumphant performance on June 15th, 1958, the young singer’s name will forever remain associated with the character of Vanessa. The cover story of Newsweek magazine reads ‘An American masterpiece’; ‘At last, an American grand opera!’ exclaims Dmitri Mitropoulos, the conductor of the first performance. At the Salzburg Festival a few months later, critics seem a little less enthusiastic, and as the 60’s passes by, the opera appears to be less frequently produced. However, the music of Vanessa, with its splendid quintet in the 4th act, remains a masterpiece reference in the history of the 20th century opera. Many of its arias and the delicious choral setting of “Under the Willow Tree” are still regularly performed in concert.

7. TOWARDS A NEW OPERA

In 1958, the Pulitzer Prize for Music is awarded to Vanessa, making Barber one of the most famous and sought-after American composers. Prestigious commissions are expected. Soon a venue stands out for his next composition : the new Lincoln Center for Performing Arts is to open between 1962 and 1966. Located in the heart of Manhattan, the architectural complex is to house the new Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Juilliard School of Music, the New York City Opera and the New York State Theater. Barber’s Piano Concerto and Andromache’s Farewell are included in the inaugural season of the Philharmonic Hall.
If the delivery of the Piano Sonata has proven a painful process, writing the Piano Concerto parallels yet another personal grieving period for Barber. In July 1961, his sister dies. Over the ensuing period of creative block, Barber has a chalet built in the Italian Dolomites that will later become his refuge and lair on the Old Continent. Meanwhile, the concerto is still in search of its last movement. On his return from a trip to Russia, where the Congress of Soviet Composers has welcomed him as a guest of honor, Barber finally begins composing again, encouraged by Vladimir Horowitz and John Browning (to whom the concerto will eventually be dedicated). When the final Allegro Molto is completed, Browning, who is to perform the work, has only two weeks and a limited number of rehearsals to memorize the score and polish his playing. Despite the rush of the last weeks, both the soloist and the conductor, Erich Leinsdorf, receive a standing ovation for their performance. Some months later, Barber is awarded his second Pulitzer Prize, crowning the achievement of the Piano Concerto.

The atmosphere surrounding the writing of Andromache’s Farewell, a concert aria written for the young American singer Martina Arroyo, is altogether different. The complicity and serenity of the relationship between Barber and Arroyo act as an enchantment. Again, the première of the work ends in extended praise from the public and critics alike. This wave of success encourages Barber to accept the commission for a second opera, planned for the opening of the new Met in the fall of 1966. As for Vanessa, the composer takes a while to settle on a subject, partly because Menotti has been excluded from the project. In the end, the Shakespearian tragedy Antony and Cleopatra is chosen, and the Italian director Franco Zeffirelli is appointed to write the libretto and stage the opera. Immediately, Barber finds himself under a large amount of political and media pressure as everyone in America is expecting the evening of September 16th to be a historical date, forever remembered by the entire nation as the night when the Metropolitan Opera became the greatest opera theater in the world.
Barber and his stage director-librettist however seem to disagree on a number of points, and generally do not share the same vision of the opera. On top of the ominously difficult collaboration, a threat of a musician’s union strike does not bode well for the entire production. Despite the fantastic vocal performances of both Leontyne Price and Justino Diaz, the première of Antony and Cleopatra is a complete fiasco. Barber’s music does not live up to the grand atmosphere of the story, Zeffirelli’s costumes and sets, with their hundreds of extras and live animals on stage, make the show a grand and somewhat kitsch Hollywood costume drama. Its overabundance of performers and gaudy scenery literally breaks the new staging machinery. Five hours after the curtain was raised on Antony and Cleopatra, the ovations of the 4 000 people in the audience do not fool anyone. The next morning, when Barber embarks for Italy without even reviewing the papers, he’s seen more to be fleeing than traveling.

8. THE FALL

A litany of disappointments and grievances punctuates the last fourteen years of Barber’s life. A few months after the failure of Antony and Cleopatra, his mother passes away and, affected by the uncertainty surrounding his relationship with Menotti, Barber becomes depressed. The last straw occurs when Menotti, who has just bought a huge mansion in Scotland, demands that Capricorn be sold. Barber is forced to sell the property that was associated with his creative life for nearly thirty years. He returns to New York almost an exile.
Early in 1975, the Juilliard School of Music stages a new production of Antony and Cleopatra, in an abridged and revised version Barber has written with the assistance of Menotti. It’s the last time the two men will work together. The experience momentarily reconciles Barber with life, but it only lasts a moment : a certain bitterness develops in him towards the new generation of people who have stopped appreciating his music. Praised yesterday, his works now seem disregarded, in a time when American music - and all music for that matter – has necessarily to be “resolutely modern”. Barber always spoke openly of his scorn for the icons of so-called “modern music”, from Charles Ives to Elliott Carter. In the 60’s and 70’s, the neo-romanticism that characterizes Barber’s music is looked upon with suspicion, even contempt. Feeling ostracized, Barber gradually withdraws from the musical milieu.

With the support of new sponsors and faithful friends such as Leontyne Price and the conductor Eugene Ormandy, Barber achieves to write a few more works, but the public and the critics seem to take only a mild and polite interest in their performances. Still, the beauty of his music during this time is undeniably striking in many compositions : the melancholic Schumann-style Ballad for piano which, measure after measure, fades into a deeply moving silence ; the sibylline and mysterious song-cycle Despite and Still ; the Third Essay for Orchestra with its enigmatic percussions ; the heart-breaking Three Songs op.45, offered to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as a last gesture towards the Old Europe ; Fadograph of a Yestern Scene, with the sepia shades of its orchestra ; and the unfinished Canzonetta, short movement of a concerto Barber wanted to compose for the oboe, this almost perfect replica of the human voice. At a time when inspiration seems to be gradually escaping Barber, he unexpectedly composes the cantata The Lovers, a rather ambitious work after Pablo Neruda’s poems. Written for baritone, mixed choir and orchestra, the composition is dedicated to Valentin Herranz, Barber’s young assistant who will remain by his side until the end. In those pages, Barber appears both sensual and stoic, as if the passionate poems of the Chilean had filled him with a new strength and wisdom. The experience provides only a momentary respite : on January 23rd, 1981, Samuel Barber dies of lymphatic cancer in his New York apartment. In front of his bed, the poster of the European premiere of Antony and Cleopatra, staged in Paris a few days earlier…

DISCOGRAPHY

THE FOUNDERS
THE FOUNDERS

Hermit Songs, Sleep Now, The Daisies, Nocturne,
Nuvoletta, mélodies de Poulenc, Sauguet, Fauré +
Barber sings Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, CPE
Bach, Schubert & 6 folksongs

Leontyne Price, Samuel Barber
Bridge / BRIDGE 9156

Barber plays the piano for his muse when he and Leontyne Price perform the Hermit Songs at the Library of Congress in Washington in October 1953. He also sings in a recital for his fellow-students at the Curtis Institute of Music for Christmas 1938. The program provides an idea of the kind of singing career Barber could easily have embarked upon.
Hermit Songs, Sleep Now, The Daisies, Nocturne,
Nuvoletta, mélodies de Poulenc, Sauguet, Fauré +
Barber sings Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, CPE
Bach, Schubert & 6 folksongs

Leontyne Price, Samuel Barber
Bridge / BRIDGE 9156

Barber plays the piano for his muse when he and Leontyne Price perform the Hermit Songs at the Library of Congress in Washington in October 1953. He also sings in a recital for his fellow-students at the Curtis Institute of Music for Christmas 1938. The program provides an idea of the kind of singing career Barber could easily have embarked upon.
Piano sonata, Excursions,
Nocturne, Interlude n°1, Ballade

John Browning
MusicMasters/67122-2

Inaccurately called The Complete Solo Piano Music. (the solo version of the Souvenirs, the second Interlude and some early pieces are missing), this album is a great introduction to Barber's piano compositions by one of his old-time accomplice: John Browning, soloist and dedicatee of the Piano Concerto who also premiered the Nocturne.
Cello concerto, Medea, Symphony n°2
Nocturne, Interlude n°1, Ballade

Zara Nelsova
New Symphony Orchestra, Samuel Barber
Pearl / GEM0151

A very rare opportunity to hear Barber conducting an orchestra. With the lyrical and engaging interpretation of Zara Nelsova – preferred to Raya Garbousova, who yet premiered the work -, Barber’s Cello Concerto is a compelling experience. The Symphony No. 2 is an equally rare addition : composed during the war, its score was destroyed by Barber some twenty years later. Only the second movement will survive to become Night Flight.
Capricorn Concerto, Symphony n°1, Ouverture « The School for Scandal », Adagio for Strings, Cello Sonata, Dover Beach, Essay n°1

Saidenberg Symphony , Daniel Saidenberg / Orchestre philharmonique de New York, Bruno Walter / Janssen Symphony of L.A, Werner Janssen / Orchestre de la NBC, Arturo Toscanini / Raya Garbousova, Erich Itor Kahn / Samuel Barber, Curtis String Quartet / Orchestre de Philadelphie, Eugene Ormandy
New Symphony Orchestra, Samuel Barber
Pearl / GEM0049

The absolute gem! Consisting of 1935-1947 recordings, this CD features most notably two historical archives : Barber singing at 25 his own Dover Beach with the Curtis String Quartet, and the 1942 première of the Adagio by Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra.
Piano sonata

Vladimir Horowitz
RCA / 60377-2-RG

Piano sonata

Van Cliburn
RCA /60415-2-RG

Six months after its première in Havana, Horowitz plays a highly-charged version of the Piano Sonata, unfortunately weakened by the very poor quality of the recording. His rather gutsy enthusiasm for this composition reminds us that he’d personally asked Barber to write the virtuoso final Fugue. Recorded by the same label, the American Van Cliburn gives another historical interpretation of the Sonata. Paying more attention to its lyrical aspects rather than its fireworks effects, this pupil of Rosina Lhévinne underscores the filiation between Barber’s work and the Russian romantic school of piano.
Piano sonata

Vladimir Horowitz
RCA / 60377-2-RG

Piano sonata

Van Cliburn
RCA /60415-2-RG

Six months after its première in Havana, Horowitz plays a highly-charged version of the Piano Sonata, unfortunately weakened by the very poor quality of the recording. His rather gutsy enthusiasm for this composition reminds us that he’d personally asked Barber to write the virtuoso final Fugue. Recorded by the same label, the American Van Cliburn gives another historical interpretation of the Sonata. Paying more attention to its lyrical aspects rather than its fireworks effects, this pupil of Rosina Lhévinne underscores the filiation between Barber’s work and the Russian romantic school of piano.
Violin concerto, Piano concerto, Ouverture « The School for Scandal », 2d Essay for Orchestra

Isaac Stern, Orchestre philharmonique de New York, Leonard Bernstein / John Browning, Orchestre de Cleveland, George Szell / Orchestre de Philadelphie, Eugene Ormandy / Orchestre philharmonique de New York, Thomas Schippers
New Symphony Orchestra, Samuel Barber
Sony SMK60004

Stern and Bernstein - Barber’s “best enemy” – give an extremely melancholic and idiomatic reading of the Violin Concerto. The Piano Concerto by Browning and Szell stands undeniably a notch above the recording Browning and Leonard Slatkin would make a few years later.
Vanessa

Eleanor Steber, Rosalind Elias, Regina Resnik Nicolai Gedda, Giorgio Tozzi Orchestre du Metropolitan Opera, Dimitri Mitropoulos
RCA "The Sony Opera House" / 88697446172

Four months after its much acclaimed première at the Met, this recording features the same outstanding cast (also available under the reference RCA Victor 7899-2-RG). Another recording of the European production at the 1958 Salzburg Festival (same cast except for Regina Resnik, replaced by Ira Malaniuk) is available with Orfeo (« Festspiel Dokumente », C635-0621).
Antony and Cleopatra

Esther Hinds, Jeffrey Wells, Eric Halfvarson, Robert Grayson Orchestre du Festival de Spolète, Christian Badea
New World Records / 80322

Recorded 17 years after the fateful première of the opera, this revised version of Antony and Cleopatra is shortened by more than an hour. This beautiful composition has been unjustly neglected, as evidenced in this production recorded during the 1983 Spoleto Festival. Currently, this is the only existing recording of Antony and Cleopatra.
Knoxville Summer of 1915, Dover Beach, Hermit Songs, Andromache's Farewell

Eleanor Steber, Dumbarton Oaks Chamber Orchestra, William Strickland / Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Quatuor Juilliard / Leontyne Price, Samuel Barber / Martina Arroyo, Orchestre philharmonique de New York, Thomas Schippers
CBS « Masterworks » / MPK46727

A historical anthology. Along with a glamorous studio version of the Hermit Songs by Barber and Price, it features two masterpieces interpreted by their dedicatee : the delicate and touching Knoxville, Summer of 1915 performed by Eleanor Steber and a white-hot Andromache’s Farewell by Arroyo and Schippers. Rarely heard performing Barber’s compositions, the German Fischer-Dieskau renders Dover Beach with a beautiful Liedersanger sobriety.
Two arias from Antony and Cleopatra, Knoxville Summer of 1915, Hermit Songs

Leontyne Price, Samuel Barber New Philharmonia Orchestra, Thomas Schippers
RCA / 61983-2

The two arias of Cleopatra («Give Me Some Music » and « Give Me My Robe ») are presented together in what could be seen as Barber’s first attempt at saving his doomed opera, following the disaster of the inaugural night of the new Metropolitan Opera. Leontyne Price is also “back on the scene of the crime” as the Queen of Egypt and gives a definite interpretation of these musical jewels. For Knoxville, she rises to the same level of interpretative perfection as Eleanor Steber reached.
A Hand of Bridge, A Stopwatch and Ordnance Map, 2d Essay for orchestra, Serenade for strings, Music for a scene from Shelley

Chorale Robert DeCormier Patricia Neway, Eunice Alberts, William Lewis, Philip Maero Symphony of the Air, Vladimir Golschmann
Vanguard Classics / ATM-CD-1649

This mélange of works for orchestra and voice features a couple of rare recordings : A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map for men’s choir, brass and percussions on a poem by Stephen Spender which relates the death of a soldier during the Spanish Civil War; and A Hand of Bridge, a ten-minute opera giving voice to the stream of consciousness of two couples playing bridge. Gian Carlo Menotti leaves his mark on the libretto as in the casting of Patricia Neway, one of his emblematic singer. To this day, this mini-opera remains an all-time favorite of many students in the American colleges of music.
2019

NEW RELEASES 2019
THE HEIRS
THE HEIRS

Adagio, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance,
Symphony n°1, Souvenirs (4 hands),
Piano concerto, Violin concerto,
Cello concerto, Capricorn Concerto

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch
John Browning/Kyoko Takezawa/Steven Isserlis
Orchestre symphonique de Saint-Louis, Leonard Slatkin
RCA/987042

The three concertos conducted by Slatkin form a totally coherent modern triptych, dominated by Isserlis’s version of the Cello Concerto. A great fan of the ballet Medea, in his Boston days, Munch used to get on his soapbox and expound upon its abridged setting, Meditation and Dance of Vengeance.
Adagio, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance,
Symphony n°1, Souvenirs (4 hands),
Piano concerto, Violin concerto,
Cello concerto, Capricorn Concerto

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch
John Browning/Kyoko Takezawa/Steven Isserlis
Orchestre symphonique de Saint-Louis, Leonard Slatkin
RCA/987042

The three concertos conducted by Slatkin form a totally coherent modern triptych, dominated by Isserlis’s version of the Cello Concerto. A great fan of the ballet Medea, in his Boston days, Munch used to get on his soapbox and expound upon its abridged setting, Meditation and Dance of Vengeance.
Dover Beach, String Quartet, Serenade for Strings, Songs opp.2,10,45

Thomas Allen, Roger Vignoles, Endellion Quartet
EMI « American Classics » / 95232

The English baritone gives an unusual and unexpectedly convincing version of these works, highlighting their similarities with the vocal music of Britten. The Endellions prove equally convincing in their very homogeneous rendition of the String Quartet – where others (eg. the Borodine, the Lindsays, the Tokyo String Quartet) have chosen, in a more conventional fashion perhaps, to focus on the central Adagio.
Essays for orchestra n°1-3, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, Music for a Scene from Shelley, 2 excerpts from Vanessa

Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
Chandos / CHAN9908

This orchestral anthology is taken from the Barber almost-complete works published by Chandos. It is particularly interesting in that it features the three Essays, rarely found together on the same album. The Estonian conductor performs these rather elusive scores like Nordic symphonic poems, somewhere between Nielsen and Sibelius. An altogether very convincing album.
The Lovers, Prayers of Kierkegaard

Dale Duesing, Sarah Reeves
Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Choir, Andrew Schenck
Koch / 3-7125-2H1

Andrew Schenck died in 1992, aged 51. He loved Barber’s music and, during all his career, conducted it relentlessly - with various successes. This very sensual, almost crude at times, version of the cantata The Lovers ranks among his best recordings. His Prayers of Kierkegaard however do not match the quality of Robert Shaw’s and Jorge Mester’s renditions (Telarc / Albany).
3rd Essay for orchestra

Dale Duesing, Sarah Reeves
New York Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta
New World Records / 80309

This live recording documents the first concert Mehta gave as newly appointed Musical Director of the New York Philharmonic. On that September 14th, 1978, he conducts the première of Barber’s last (fully completed) work, “an absolutely abstract, essentially dramatic music”, as described by the composer himself. The 3rd Essay fits with the neo-romantic aspects of the first two Essays as well as with the more chaotic and jagged rhythm of the Piano Concerto.
Complete songs, Dover Beach

Thomas Hampson, Cheryl Studer
John Browning
Emerson Quartet
Deutsche Grammophon / DG 459506

An absolute must-have for all Barber fans. Initiators of the project, Browning and Hampson have added to the existing ten cycles ten early songs never released before. Cheryl Studer gives a brilliant interpretation of the Hermit Songs, while Hampson delivers a harrowing Despite and Still. With the Emerson Quartet, his Dover Beach version stands out as the jewel of this remarkable recording.
Knoxville Summer of 1915, Nocturne, Sure on this Shining Night, Adagio

Barbara Hendricks,
London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas
EMI / 452872

Knoxville Summer of 1915, Essays n°1-2, Overture « The School for Scandal », Medea’s Meditation & Dance of Vengeance, Adagio

Sylvia McNair,
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Yoel Levi
Telarc / CD 80250

Two interpretations of Knoxville Summer of 1915 that complement each other rather well : a theatrical, dramatic version by Barbara Hendricks and a more contemplative and nostalgic version by Sylvia McNair. In addition, the Telarc album features beautiful orchestral performances.
Knoxville Summer of 1915, Nocturne, Sure on this Shining Night, Adagio

Barbara Hendricks,
London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas
EMI / 452872

Knoxville Summer of 1915, Essays n°1-2, Overture « The School for Scandal », Medea’s Meditation & Dance of Vengeance, Adagio

Sylvia McNair,
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Yoel Levi
Telarc / CD 80250

Two interpretations of Knoxville Summer of 1915 that complement each other rather well : a theatrical, dramatic version by Barbara Hendricks and a more contemplative and nostalgic version by Sylvia McNair. In addition, the Telarc album features beautiful orchestral performances.
Piano Sonata, Excursions, Souvenirs, Nocturne, 3 Sketches, Interlude I, Ballade

Daniel Pollack
Naxos / 8.550992

The American pianist Daniel Pollack, who has premiered the Piano Sonata in Moscow in 1958 and in China, offers with this album a contrasted panorama of Barber's works. The bitter-sweet nostalgia of the Souvenirs cycle finds here a perfect reading, and never has the Ballade been delivered with such an aristocratic poignancy.
Piano Sonata, Excursions, Souvenirs, Nocturne, 3 Sketches, Interlude I, Ballade

Lilia Boyadjievak
Solstice / SOCD 145

The American pianist Daniel Pollack, who has premiered the Piano Sonata in Moscow in 1958 and in China, offers with this album a contrasted panorama of Barber's works. The bitter-sweet nostalgia of the Souvenirs cycle finds here a perfect reading, and never has the Ballade been delivered with such an aristocratic poignancy.
Symphony n°1,
Essays for orchestra n°1-2,
Ouverture « The School for Scandal », Adagio, Music for a Scene from Shelley,

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
David Zinman
Argo / 436 288-2ZH

A perfect introduction to Barber’s orchestral works, with an electrifying First Symphony . The high quality and somewhat analytical recording of the Baltimore orchestra allows for strings and brass alike to sound as soft or boisterous as they possibly could.
Cello concerto

Raphael Wallfisch
English Chamber Orchestra, Geoffrey Simon
Chandos / CHAN 8322

Published in 1982, this version of the Cello Concerto is the first recorded version following the initial one by Zara Nelsova and Samuel Barber. The chamber-like texture of the orchestra provides an ideal cocoon to the energetic and accurate interpretation of the English cellist. While Wallfisch takes into account the dramatic aspect of the work, he successfully chooses to focus on its elegiac tone.
Violin concerto, Piano concerto, Souvenirs (orchestra)

Robert McDuffie, Jon Kimura Parker
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Yoel Levi
Telarc / CD 80441

The American violinist Robert McDuffie, who received the advice of Barber in person regarding his playing of the Concerto, gives a wonderful reading of Barber’s work, in a perfectly balanced interpretation between the sentimental and the virtuoso. John Kimura Parker’s version of the Piano Concerto sounds however somewhat distant and disembodied. The Browning/Szell version remains preferable.
Capricorn Concerto, Canzone (flute & piano), Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, Fadograph of a Yestern Scene, Summer Music, Hermit Songs (clarinet & piano), Adagio

San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Donald Barra
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, James Sedares
Arioso Wind Quintet, Todd Palmer, Carol Archer
Koch / 3-7361-2

A high-quality compilation of several chamber works recordings : the exuberant >Capricorn Concerto expresses a typically neo-classical sprightliness thanks to a particularly eloquent Arioso Wind Quintet ; the surprising transcription for clarinet and piano of the Hermit Songs eventually proves very pleasing, and could certainly be an inspiration to musicians looking for unusual works to perform …
2008 - 2018
RELEASES 2008 - 2018

Dover Beach, Adagio
(+ Butterworth, Bush, Coallier)

Étienne Dupuis, baritone
Claudel-Canimex String Quartet
1 CD Atma / ACD2 2701

Barber's Dover Beach has been graced by 1st class performances in a plethoric discography, from Fischer-Dieskau to Gerald Finley and Thomas Allen. In his first solo album, the Quebecker baritone Étienne Dupuis is overshadowed by his prestigious predecessors. If his voice has a velvety timbre and an impressive largeness, the phrasing could be more nuanced to express all the juvenile intensity of Matthew Arnold's poem. Here, the text is delivered with a curious detachment. The accompaniment by the Claudel-Canimex String Quartet sounds equally atonic - as well as their performance of the Adagio, more cerebral than visceral. The rest of the program offers a refreshingly unusual selection of works for voice and string quartet.
Dover Beach, Adagio
(+ Butterworth, Bush, Coallier)

Étienne Dupuis, baritone
Claudel-Canimex String Quartet
1 CD Atma / ACD2 2701

Barber's Dover Beach has been graced by 1st class performances in a plethoric discography, from Fischer-Dieskau to Gerald Finley and Thomas Allen. In his first solo album, the Quebecker baritone Étienne Dupuis is overshadowed by his prestigious predecessors. If his voice has a velvety timbre and an impressive largeness, the phrasing could be more nuanced to express all the juvenile intensity of Matthew Arnold's poem. Here, the text is delivered with a curious detachment. The accompaniment by the Claudel-Canimex String Quartet sounds equally atonic - as well as their performance of the Adagio, more cerebral than visceral. The rest of the program offers a refreshingly unusual selection of works for voice and string quartet.
Piano Concerto, Nocturne
(+ Britten)

Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano
London Symphony Orchestra, Emil Tabakov
1 CD DECCA / 2284102
Violin Concerto
(+ Corigliano, Bates)

Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
London Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
1 CD eOne / #7791

/p>
Reincarnations
(+ Lauridsen, Muhly, Crouch, Crabtree, Forrest, Britt, DiOrio, Runestad, Ticheli)

Seraphic Fire, Patrick Dupré Quigley
Anna Fateeva, piano
1 CD SFM
String Quartet
(+ Copland, Gershwin, Dvorák, Brubeck)

Brodsky Quartet
1 CD Chandos / CHAN 10801
Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, Commando March
(+ Copland, Schwarz, Creston, Grainger, Rands, Offenbach)

The President's Own United States Marine Band
Gerard Schwarz
1 CD Naxos / 8.573121

This live concert of the United States Marines Band offers the opportunity to discover a new side of Barber’s music. If it appears quite trivial and almost ironical with its pompous accents, the Commando March (1943) is straightforward and efficient in its primary task : support the morale of the troops (it will be Barber’s most performed work in the USA, with the Adagio for Strings, during World War II). More intriguing and mesmerizing, Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance reveals the real « warlike » facet of Barber’s inspiration. Here, the music – drawn from a ballet commissioned by Martha Graham – switch abruptly from hypnotical stillness to Dionysian frenzy. The wind band arrangement (with piano) by Frank Hudson underlines all the sharpness, syncopations and angular rythms of this splendid symphonic poem. The virtuosos of the President’s own are the perfect advocates for this ambitious program (Bernard Rands’Ceremonial and Aaron Copland’s Emblems are just as fascinating).
Piano Concerto + Copland, Gershwin : Piano Concertos

Xiayin Wang, piano
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Peter Oundjian
1 CD Chandos / CHSA 5128

Barber's Piano Concerto is a strange beast, a monster with many heads, difficult to seize and master. The pianists who had the courage to confront it can be counted on the fingers of two hands (one hand is enough as far as the first-rate performances are concerned). The young Chinese Xiayin Wang, whose love for American music seems to be engraved in her DNA (Gershwin, Earl Wild and Richard Danielpour bear the lion's share in her repertoire), succeeds brilliantly in taming this pianistic Hydra. Intensely poetic in the Canzone, with its dreamlike lullaby rythm, she tackles the baffling introduction, full of shadows and unanswered questions, and the conclusive Allegro molto, driven by a disheveled motorism, with a extra touch of soul. Under Peter Oundjian's baton, the RSNO deploys a range of radiant colours, in its tempetuous roarings as well as in its intimate murmurs. A feast of a recording - Copland's and Gershwin's concertos being just as accomplished !
Themes*, Petite Berceuse*, Freshfrom West Chester, Prelude to a Tragic Drama*, 3 Sketches, To Aunt Mamie on her Birthday*, 3 Essays*, Interludes I & II, Souvenirs, After the Concert, Ballade

Giampaolo Nuti
Daniela De Santis
1 CD Stradivarius / STR 33939

After a splendid Piano Concerto, Giampaolo Nuti confirms he's a great performer of Barber's music. His new album Souvenirs & Recollections includes no less than seven world premiere recordings of works composed between the age of 13 and 15*. Especially interesting are the moving Andante religioso and Petite Berceuse, finely written, a Prelude to a Tragic Drama emphatic but never hollow, and the three Essays composed in 1926. This triptych, not to be confused with the three Essays for Orchestra, proves to be a fascinating sonata in disguise : the Andante, based on an insidious ostinato, sounds strangely ominous ; the Allegro molto ("like a very hot summer night", as noted by Barber) would be the scherzo, restless and falsely cheerful ; the last movement, Con moto, is a solemn choral spiced up with a few dissonances... Let's hope these enigmatic pieces, somewhere between Medtner and Martinu, will inspire other pianists as adventurous as Nuti. The last part of the program consists in three mature works : the Souvenirs cycle, played with the right kind of refined humor by Nuti and De Santis, After the Concert, a deliciously anachronistic waltz, and the Ballade, ultimate opus of Barber's catalogue, heartbreaking and exhausted piece of music tinged of crepuscular poetry. A wonderful disc - and a booklet, one must add, particularly interesting signed by Aloma Bardi (president of ICAMus). Now, we must hear Giampaolo Nuti in the monumental Piano Sonata ! [Read the booklet]
A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map
(+ Copland, Reich, Cage, Feldman, Bernstein)

SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
Marcus Creed
1 CD Hänssler Classics / 093.306.000

It's quite surprising to find associated, on the same CD cover, the name of Barber with two mavericks such as Steve Reich and Morton Feldman. Yet, there is an implicit connection between the severe expressionism of Barber's war piece, A Stopwatch and an Orndance Map, the obsessive loop of Proverb and the haughty statism of Rothko Chapel. The three works are the soundtracks of a mysterious ceremonial, both uncanny and dramatic, and they attain their maximal expressivity with a remarkable economy of means. A very fine album of American choral music, proving once more the excellence of Marcus Creed and his SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart.
Adagio (String Quartet)

Keller Quartet
ECM New Series
ECM 2197

Adagio (orchestra)

Matheus Ensemble
Deutsche Grammophon
DG 4810648

Adagio (organ)

Jean-Baptiste Robin
Brilliant Classics
BRI 94726

Here are 3 versions of the world-famous Adagio, under three different guises. The slow movement of Barber's String Quartet is performed by the Keller Quartet with György Ligeti's two String Quartets. The link between the neo-romantic elegy of the American and the tempetuous folklorism of the Hungarian appears quite far-fetched, but the performance is passionate, adventurous, with a high-strung (bordering on out-of-tone) climax, and a very sensuous ending. Too bad the Keller chose to not record the complete quartet...
The Adagio has been recorded in various arrangements but, unless we're mistaken, this organ transcription by Jean-Baptiste Robin is a world-premiere on disc. Alas, the rendition sounds strangely sluggish, monochromatic, drown in a problematic reverberation. Maybe the organ is not the right instrument for this work ? The divine surprise comes from the French Ensemble Matheus and its conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Mainly known for its brightly performances of baroque music on period instruments, it has recorded for the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon a thematic program resolutely off the beaten track : the Adagio in its string orchestra version dialogues with the Bach family (Johann Sebastian and Johann Christoph), Shostakovich and Nicolas Bacri. From the very first measures, Barber's intense dirge sounds like a baroque lamento. All through the arch-like architecture of the work, the fortrightness and the sharpess of the strings are evocative of the young Barber's most vivid inspirations : Bach, of course, but also Monteverdi and the English madrigalists. This Adagio alone would justify the purchase of this disc ; but don't miss the other works of the program, they're all first-class performances !
Adagio (String Quartet)

Keller Quartet
ECM New Series
ECM 2197

Adagio (orchestra)

Matheus Ensemble
Deutsche Grammophon
DG 4810648

Adagio (organ)

Jean-Baptiste Robin
Brilliant Classics
BRI 94726

Here are 3 versions of the world-famous Adagio, under three different guises. The slow movement of Barber's String Quartet is performed by the Keller Quartet with György Ligeti's two String Quartets. The link between the neo-romantic elegy of the American and the tempetuous folklorism of the Hungarian appears quite far-fetched, but the performance is passionante, adventurous, with a high-strung (bordering on out-of-tone) climax, and a very sensuous ending. Too bad the Keller chose to not record the complete quartet...
The Adagio has been recorded in various arrangements but, unless we're mistaken, this organ transcription by Jean-Baptiste Robin is a world-premiere on disc. Alas, the rendition sounds strangely sluggish, monochromatic, drown in a problematic reverberation. Maybe the organ is not the right instrument for this work ? The divine surprise comes from the French Ensemble Matheus and its conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Mainly known for its brightly performances of baroque music on period instruments, it has recorded for the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon a thematic program resolutely off the beaten track : the Adagio in its string orchestra version dialogues with the Bach family (Johann Sebastian and Johann Christoph), Chostakovitch and Nicolas Bacri. From the very first measures, Barber's intense dirge sounds like a baroque lamento. All through the arch-like architecture of the work, the fortrightness and the sharpess of the strings are evocative of the young Barber's most vivd inspirations : Bach, of course, but also Monteverdi and the English madrigalists. This Adagio alone would justify the purchase of this disc ; but don't miss the other works of the program, they're all first-class performances !
Adagio (String Quartet)

Keller Quartet
ECM New Series
ECM 2197

Adagio (orchestra)

Matheus Ensemble
Deutsche Grammophon
DG 4810648

Adagio (organ)

Jean-Baptiste Robin
Brilliant Classics
BRI 94726

Here are 3 versions of the world-famous Adagio, under three different guises. The slow movement of Barber's String Quartet is performed by the Keller Quartet with György Ligeti's two String Quartets. The link between the neo-romantic elegy of the American and the tempetuous folklorism of the Hungarian appears quite far-fetched, but the performance is passionante, adventurous, with a high-strung (bordering on out-of-tone) climax, and a very sensuous ending. Too bad the Keller chose to not record the complete quartet...
The Adagio has been recorded in various arrangements but, unless we're mistaken, this organ transcription by Jean-Baptiste Robin is a world-premiere on disc. Alas, the rendition sounds strangely sluggish, monochromatic, drown in a problematic reverberation. Maybe the organ is not the right instrument for this work ? The divine surprise comes from the French Ensemble Matheus and its conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Mainly known for its brightly performances of baroque music on period instruments, it has recorded for the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon a thematic program resolutely off the beaten track : the Adagio in its string orchestra version dialogues with the Bach family (Johann Sebastian and Johann Christoph), Chostakovitch and Nicolas Bacri. From the very first measures, Barber's intense dirge sounds like a baroque lamento. All through the arch-like architecture of the work, the fortrightness and the sharpess of the strings are evocative of the young Barber's most vivd inspirations : Bach, of course, but also Monteverdi and the English madrigalists. This Adagio alone would justify the purchase of this disc ; but don't miss the other works of the program, they're all first-class performances !
Cello Concerto, Cello Sonata
Adagio for Strings

Christian Poltéra, cello / Kathyrn Stott, piano
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton
Bis Classics / BIS1827

It was quite obvious when he conducted, a few years ago, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in the Piano Concerto (with Leon McCawley), and this new recording now confirms it : Andrew Litton is a great (and unsung) Barberian conductor. Under his baton, the Bergen Philharmonic delivers a powerful and heartbreaking rendition of both the Adagio for Strings and the Cello Concerto. If the Violin Concerto is really Barber's "war concerto", this one, composed in 1945, sounds like a "Hymn for Peace", with its dream-like Andante and its splendid lyrical themes. Christian Poltéra's cello is a marvel of delicacy and strength, but achieves also a youthful impetuosity in the Cello Sonata with his favorite "partner in crime", the pianist Kathryn Stott. Three modern references in one CD : what more could a Barberian fan ask for ?
The Lovers, Reincarnations,
Sure on this shining night,
Agnus Dei, Easter Chorale,
2 Chœurs op.8, 2 Chœurs op.42,
A Stopwatch & an Ordnance Map

David Farwig, baritonen
Orchestre philharmonique de Bergen, Andrew Litton
Harmonia Mundi/HMU 807522

For too many years, The Lovers, a striking cantata composed by Barber at the end of his life on poems by Pablo Neruda, has been available only in one recording. At long last, a modern version is now released, and it comes in a new guise : originally composed for a large orchestra, the work has been transcribed (by Robert Kyr) for a small instrumental ensemble, to clarify the dense polyphony of the music and, in a way, duplicate the sense of intimacy expressed in the poems (take from Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair). Unfortunately, Barber's lyricism sounds a bit thin here, and the almost telluric eroticism of the Chilean poet is quickly forgotten. The voices of Conspirare are perfectly balanced, with a great attention to nuances and dynamics, but the soloist David Farwig fails to really perform the words he sings. A "semi-success", this new recording of The Lovers is luckily complemented by wonderful renditions of choral pieces, from the most famous (Agnus Dei, Sure on this shining night) to the not-so-known (opp.8 and 42) or almost experimental (the brief A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map, with its impressive timpani accompaniment).
Sonata Op.26,
Nocturne op.33,
Ballade op.46 + Charles Griffes : Sonata,
3 Tone Pictures,
Fantasy Pieces,
A Winter Landscape

Lodewijk Crommelin, piano
FutureClassics/FC112

For his first CD, the Dutch pianist Lodewijk Crommelin has put together a very original and intelligent compilation of neo-romantic works by two American composers of different generations. While Charles Griffes' music can be described as impressionistic, Barber's is more obviously eclectic and daring. Crommelin tackles Barber's Sonata with very impressive touch and rythmic instinct, sounding at time almost haughty - which is fine with this intimidating masterwork. On the other side, the subtler pieces (Nocturne and Ballade) sound a little bit harsh. Maybe the instrument is to blame, with its narrow range of colors... The evanescent poetry of Griffes' pieces gets a little bit lost in translation. Nevertheless, a very promising album, offering a fascinating overview of America's music for piano of the XXth century.
Violin Concerto
(+ Adagio for Strings / Khachaturian : Violin Concerto)

Mikhaïl Simonyan
London Symphony Orchestra, Kristjan Järvi
Deutsche Grammophon/CD 4779827

Violin Concerto
(+ Korngold : Violin Concerto /
Waxman : Carmen-Fantasy /
Williams : Schindler's List)

Alexander Gilman
Cape Town Philharmonic, Perry So
Oehms Records / OEHMS799

More than ever, Barber's music comes alive thanks to a young generation of artists. Alexander Gilman, 29 years old, and Mikhail Simonyan, 26, offer two distinct approaches of the Violin Concerto : sensuously vibrant for the first one, with a shimmering orchestral background, breathtakingly virtuoso for the second one, with an unbridled London Symphony Orchestra under the hot-headed command of Kristjan Järvi. The Korngold/Waxman/Williams works by Gilman sound more interesting than Simonyan's rendition of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto, but the two CDs remain highly commandable !
Violin Concerto
(+ Korngold : Violin Concerto /
Waxman : Carmen-Fantasy /
Williams : Schindler's List)

Alexander Gilman
Cape Town Philharmonic, Perry So
Oehms Records / OEHMS799

Violin Concerto
(+ Adagio for Strings / Khachaturian : Violin Concerto)

Mikhaïl Simonyan
London Symphony Orchestra, Kristjan Järvi
Deutsche Grammophon/CD 4779827

More than ever, Barber's music comes alive thanks to a young generation of artists. Alexander Gilman, 29 years old, and Mikhail Simonyan, 26, offer two distinct approaches of the Violin Concerto : sensuously vibrant for the first one, with a shimmering orchestral background, breathtakingly virtuoso for the second one, with an unbridled London Symphony Orchestra under the hot-headed command of Kristjan Järvi. The Korngold/Waxman/Williams works by Gilman sound more interesting than Simonyan's rendition of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto, but the two CDs remain highly commandable !
String Quartet Op.11
(+ Antonin Dvorák : String Quartet No.12
Charles Tomlinson Griffes : 2 Sketches)

Cypress String Quartet
CPA Association

Flanked by the world-famous "American" String Quartet by Dvorák and the rare Sketches by the young Charles Tomlinson Griffes (a pupil of Engelbert Humperdinck in Berlin), the neo-brahmsian String Quartet by Barber confirms the "Old World" flavor of this album. The Cypress String Quartet performs the Op.11 with an impressively homogeneous sound signature, but doesn't really achieve to express the whole dramatic range of the score (cf. the almost anticlimactic rendition of the Adagio). A neat performance, definitely more "chamber" than "theater" music... [The Cypress String Quartet website]
Hermit Songs, Despite and Still,
3 Songs op.45, Nuvoletta,
Sure on this Shining Night,
Rain has fallen, The Secrets of the Old,
Monks and Raisins

Melissa Fogarty, soprano / Marc Peloquin, piano
Aureole Records / 101

When a young singer choses an all-Samuel Barber program for her second solo album, it says a lot about her artistic integrity as well as the importance of Barber's output in modern vocal music. And Melissa Fogarty pushes the artistic envelope further by selecting, next to the famous Hermit Songs and Sure on this shining night, two particularly arduous song-cycles, Despite and Still op.41 and Three Songs op.45, composed in the aftermath of Antony and Cleopatra's disaster. With her light soprano voice and nice vibrato, Ms Fogarty doesn't succeed entirely in expressing the drama behind theses works, but she tackles the more playful songs (The Heavenly Banquet, The Monk and his Cat, Nuvoletta, Monks and Raisins, A Green Lowland of Pianos) with impressive authority. Last but not least, her impeccable diction and Marc Peloquin's tactful accompaniment underline ideally the poetic quality of the texts. [Melissa Fogarty' s website]
String Quartet op.11
(+ Steve Reich : Different Trains
George Crumb: Black Angels)

Diotima Quartet
Naive / V5272

Usually - and unimaginatively - paired with Dvorák's "American" String Quartet or Schubert's "The Maiden and the Death", Barber's Opus 11 is at last confronted in this album with two touchstones of American chamber music of the XXth century. The French musicians of the Diotima Quartet tackle this work and its famous Adagio on the hedonistic side : their rendition underlines first and foremost the sheer melodic beauty of Barber's music, saving expressionnism and drama for Reich's and Crumb's works. Three visions of America for a highly recommended CD. [Article by Michael Quinn, The Classical Review]
Knoxville Summer of 1915
(+ Britten : Les Illuminations
Berlioz : Les Nuits d'été)

Anne-Catherine Gillet
Orchestre philharmonique royal de Liège, Paul Daniel
Aeon / AECD 1113

From Leontyne Price to Measha Brueggergosman, from Eleanor Steber to Barbara Hendricks, every single performer of Knoxville Summer of 1915 has talken about the autobiographical shades of the work, deeply related to their own childhood memories. The Belgian soprano Anne-Catherine Gillet makes no exception to this rule, even if she's not born on the same side of the Atlantic. The first French-speaking soprano to record Barber's "lyrical rhapsody", she feels as if "Barber had written it for [her]", and you certainly can hear it in this album, whose three works revolve about the theme of lost innocence. Her charming bright voice has also a deeper quality where nostalgia and Sehnsucht can be heard. Paul Daniel conducts the Belgian orchestra with gusto and subtelty, allowing it to sound as clearly as a chamber ensemble. The perfect match for Barber's inspired music and James Agee's heart-rending lyrics...
Piano Sonata, Excursions,
Souvenirs, Nocturne,
Interludes I & II, 3 Sketches, Ballade

Leon McCawley, piano
Somm Records / SOMMCD 0108

Almost fifteen years ago, the musical world discovered a young English pianist through a dazzling Samuel Barber album (see below, "The Young Generation"). This year, after touring in England and in the USA for Barber's centennial, Leon McCawley revisits the composer's music, adding to the usual program the Sketches, three delightful early pieces, and the second Interlude, where Barber pays sumptuously his debt to Brahms. The pianist's talent is as versatile as ever, but his new approach underlines brilliantly the dramatism of the Sonata, while the subtle enigma of the Ballade takes a new resonance, almost schumannesque, under his fingers. The high quality of the sound recording gives an added value to this album, undoubtedly the most satisfying modern version of Barber's pianistic output.
[Details on Somm's website]
[International Record Review]
Historical Recordings 1935-1960
1935-1960
Adagio, String Quartet, Capricorn Concerto, Excursions, Medea's Meditation & Dance of Vengeance, Dover Beach,Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, Essays for Orchestra No. 1 & 2, Medea, Commando March, Die Natali, Knoxville, Overture to The School for Scandal, Orchestral Songs, Prayers of Kierkegaard, Symphonies No. 1 & 2, Cello Sonata, Vanessa

8 CD West Hill Radio Archives
/ WHRA6039

This extraordinay boxset is a cornucopia of rare archives documenting more than 25 years of historical recordings, from Dover Beach sung by a young baritone named Samuel Barber to the world premiere of Die Natali. The casting is of the utmost artistic quality and the program offers several gems : the original version of the Violin Concerto and its revised version, the String Quartet with its original third movement or a rehearsal of the Symphony No. 2 with Barber conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra !
[works & artists]
Violin Concerto, Adagio for Strings
(+ Walton : Violin Concerto,
2 Pieces for Strings from Henry V)

Thomas Bowes, violin
Malmö Opera Orchestra, Joseph Swensen
Signum Classics / SIGCD 238

The coupling of Barber and Walton in the same album is an excellent idea. The two composers, perfectly contemporary, share the same stylistic qualities, mixing a traditional idiom with an acquired taste for modernism. Thomas Bowes, leader of the London Sinfonietta, gives a clean-cut rendition of Barber's Concerto, highly recommendable, though lacking maybe of a gusto and madness found in Gil Shaham's, James Ehnes' and Vadim Gluzman's peformances. The Malmö Opera Orchestra sounds much more at ease with the virtuso motorism of the Concerto than with the static intensity of the Adagio...
Piano Sonata, Excursions
(+ Ives : Piano Sonata No.1 / Debussy : 6 Etudes
Bartók : Suite "Out of Doors", 6 Bulgarian Dances
Ravel : Valses nobles & sentimentales, Pavane pour
une infante défunte, Alborado del Gracioso)

Joanna MacGregor, piano
Sound Circus - Warner Classics / 2564 67203-7

This 2-CDs album offers several milestones of the piano music composed in the first half of the XXth century. The English pianist Joanna MacGregor delivers a very dramatic performance of Barber's Piano Sonata, underlining brilliantly its numerous contrasts (the ominous Allegro energico and slow movement counterbalancing the quicksilver quality of the scherzo and the breathtaking motorism of the fuga). She's equally at ease with the humorous Excursions, where her lightness of touch works wonders. A fascinating account of Barber's piano output, and an ideal way to explore the modern musical trends of XXth century music.
Adagio for Strings
(+ Strauss : Metamorphosen
Mahler : Adagietto from the Symphony No.5)

New Century Chamber Orchestra
NSS Music / 853376001108

This very consistent (though a little bit too brief) program features the newly founded NCCO, whose leader is the Italo-American violonist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. Its approach of the Adagio for Strings is at first surprising, with a very slow tempo (at 10', just between Bernstein and Celibidache), but it proves extremely effective : where Lenny and his musicians (from the LA Philharmonic and the NY Philharmonic, no less) sound erratic and at a loss, the NCCO (without conductor, and live) gives a convincing performance, stretching with extreme clarity the subtle polyphony of the strings and handling with confidence the heart-wrenching crescendo. Even the silence after the famous climax is perfectly timed, letting Barber's music resonate without completely dying... Very powerful and inspired.
Cello Concerto,
Symphony No. 2, Medea-Suite

Zara Nelsova, cello
New Symphony Orchestra of London, Samuel Barber
Naxos "Historical" / 8.111358

We knew Barber as a singer and pianist : in this new release by Naxos, he conducts three of his latest works in a historical Decca recording of December 1950 - including the Symphony No. 2, that he'd choose a few years later to withdraw. Very intense and risky performances, enhanced by a wonderful audio restoration, far superior to the similar album published by Pearl.
Review by Audiophile Audition
Piano Concerto
Essays for Orchestra n°1, 2, 3

Giampaolo Nuti
Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Daniel Kawka
1 CD Stradivarius / STR 33814

A rare pianist with a carefully chosen repertoire (Schnittke, Chostakovitch, Alkan, Busoni, Berio), Giampaolo Nuti shares an amazing affinity with Barber's music. This recording shows him equally at ease in the dissonnant, elegiac or motoristic moments of the Piano Concerto. The RAI Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Kawka's baton give a tremendous performance of the 3 Essays, eloquently enhancing their poetic or dramatic qualities. A must-have for all Barber-fans !
First Symphony , Overture to "The School for Scandal", Violin Concerto, Essay for Orchestra No. 2, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, Adagio Piano Sonata, String Quartet, Dover Beach, Hermit Songs, 3 Songs, Knoxville Summer of 1915, Agnus Dei, 2 Songs from Antony and Cleopatra, Must the Winter Come So Soon ?

Vladimir Horowitz, Isaac Stern Curtis String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, Choir of Trinity College, Leontyne Price, Frederica von Stade, Marylin Horne, Martin Katz, Samuel Barber
Orchestre symphonique national de la RAI, Daniel Kawka
New York Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Schippers, Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Slatkin, James Conlon
3CD SONY "Masterworks" / SNYC 70278

Here is the anthology of the Centennial, interspersing wonderful historical recordings (Knoxville and the Hermit Songs by Leontyne Price, the Piano Sonata by Horowitz, the Violin Concerto by Stern and Bernstein) with modern interpretations (the Symphony in One Movement by Slatkin, the Tokyo String Quartet in the world-famous String Quartet). And straight from the vaults of the Curtis Institute of Music, the proverbial cherry on the cake : a very impressive recording of Dover Beach by the 25-years-old composer in person !
Complete Orchestral Works

Stephen Prutsman, Wendy Warner, James Buswell, Karina Gauvin, Thomas Trotter
Orchestre symphonique national de la RAI, Daniel Kawka
Orchestre national royal dՃcosse, Marin Alsop
Thomas Schippers, Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Slatkin, James Conlon
6 CD Naxos / 8.506021

Inspired conducting, eloquent orchestra & soloists : a highly recommendable 6-CD set !
Excursions, op.20
(+ works by Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, Joplin)

Elizabeth Hayes (piano)
Quartz / QTZ 2005

Under the title "New York Connections", this cleverly devised recital offers an overview of the 20th century American piano, firmly rooted in jazz and blues. Elizabeth Hayes delivers an energetic performance of Barber's Excursions, but is equally at ease with its more poetic (Slow Blues Tempo) or humorous tones (the final Hoe-Down). Great renditions of Joplin's ragtimes and Copland's Four Piano Blues.
Violin Concerto
(+ Bernstein : Serenade / Bloch : Baal Shem)

Vadim Gluzman
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
BIS / BIS-1662

A magnificent performance of the Violin Concerto, more hedonistic than pyrotechnical. Gluzman and Neschling don't hesitate to use slow tempi, emphasizing the vocal line of the violin and orchestral writing. There's also plenty to hear and admire in Bernstein's and Bloch's works, two complements both logical and exciting to this program. [More info]
Prelude & Fugue in B minor (world premiere),
Wondrous Love
(+ works by Copland, Ives, Still, Cowell, Paulus)

Iain Quinn
Chandos / CHAN10489

There is a gap of thirty years between the Prelude and Fugue, recorded here for the first time, and the variations on Wondrous Love. It's no surprise, then, if the quality of inspiration between the student of the Curtis Institute and the composer in full bloom reveals the same kind of gap. An interesting album, though, especially for the Variations on America by Aaron Copland.
Piano Sonata
(+ works by Corigliano,
Pinkston, Roumain)

Jade Simmons
Koch / 3-7760-24

With an amazing technical mastery, the young American pianist delivers a very melodic Piano Sonata - at the risk of under-estimating its dramatic tone. It's therefore no wonder if she seems more at ease in the "playful" parts of the work - the scherzo and the final fugue - than in the initial Allegro, tense and imperious, or in the nocturnal, almost bartokian, Adagio mesto.
Piano Sonata
(+ works by Bolcolm, Ginastera,
Nazareth, Gottschalk, Beach, Bonds, Villa-Lobos)

Joel Fan
Reference Recordings / RR 119

From Argentina to the West Indies and from Brazil... to the USA, Joel Fan invites us to a journey to the Americas. His reading of Barber's Piano Sonata conveys a striking sense of limpidity, in a beautiful and velvety sound. Rather than virtuosity, Fan displays a very hedonistic touch that underscores, surprisingly, the connection between this composition and the piano works of Debussy and Bartok.
Toccata Festiva
(+ works by Widor,
Gigout, Boëllmann)

Frédéric Ledroit, orgue /Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Skarbo / DSK 4078

« With its two cadenzas – the second one for pedals only ! –, the Toccata Festiva has all the characteristics of an organ concerto. The organ-piano transcription recorded here put the spotlight on the organ, since the two instruments differs clearly in tone. Better than an orchestra, the virtuoso piano part gives its full meaning to the word ‘toccata’. In perfect unison, Jean-Pierre Ferey and Frédéric Ledroit find the right balance to express the festive as well as solemn nature of this enthralling composition. » Thierry Adumeau, Monde de la Musique, March 2009
Andromache's Farewell

Jennifer Larmore
Grant Park Orchestra, Carlos Kalmar
Cedille / CDR 90000 104

A most expressionist version of this concert aria which gives a taste of the aesthetic atmosphere of Antony and Cleopatra. With a timber as compelling as ever, Jennifer Larmore enacts a woman, at times rebellious, loving, furious, resigned… Barber’s music has rarely offered such a variety of climates and orchestral colors. An excellent modern recording of this work, that equals in intensity the Roberta Alexander performance (CD Etcetera).
Agnus Dei (DVD « Transcriptions »)

Chœur de chambre Accentus, Laurence Equilbey
Naive / V5116

Since both albums Transcriptions and Transcriptions 2, featuring a rare choir repertoire by Accentus and Laurence Equilbey, had met with public acclaim, Andy Sommer’s mission was to put these interpretations in pictures. The Adagio for Strings, in its choir setting Agnus Dei, remains as captivating as ever. One might be slightly less enthusiastic about the video clip showing the Accentus singers marching through an all-concrete parking lot bathed in blue, yellow and green neon lights…
Piano Sonata, Nocturne, Ballade

Paul Barnes
Orange Mountain Music / OMM 0036

A rather strange title (« The American Virtuoso ») for this recital featuring Nocturne and Ballade, two compositions in which Barber pays a not so virtuoso homage to Chopin and Schumann. Paul Barnes does not sound as comfortable in these works as he does with the Sonata, in his interpretation full of energy and musicality. One may regret the lingering impression that the piano was placed in a water tank rather than a recording studio.
Cello Sonata

Kristine Blaumane, Jacob Katsnelsonn
Quartz / QTZ2057

Cello Sonata

Matt Haimovitz, Geoffrey Burleson
Oxingale / OXGL 2015

The Cello Sonata was written during Barber’s training years at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and exudes the love the young composer felt for Brahms’s music. The future development of Barber’s musical style is almost palpable in the Blaumane/Katsnelson recording, with its strong sense of drama, its long melodic lines and their declamatory style. The « Odd Couple » Matt Haimovitz and Geoffrey Burleson give a somewhat dry interpretation of a piece where sudden changes in rhythm seem to compensate for an otherwise flat musical line..
Cello Sonata

Kristine Blaumane, Jacob Katsnelsonn
Quartz / QTZ2057

Cello Sonata

Matt Haimovitz, Geoffrey Burleson
Oxingale / OXGL 2015

The Cello Sonata was written during Barber’s training years at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and exudes the love the young composer felt for Brahms’s music. The future development of Barber’s musical style is almost palpable in the Blaumane/Katsnelson recording, with its strong sense of drama, its long melodic lines and their declamatory style. The « Odd Couple » Matt Haimovitz and Geoffrey Burleson give a somewhat dry interpretation of a piece where sudden changes in rhythm seem to compensate for an otherwise flat musical line.
Capricorn Concerto, Adagio for Strings, Serenade for Strings

Reinhold Friedrich, Lajos Lencsés, Janos Balint
Budapest Strings, Bela Banvalfi
Capriccio / C10505

Of the three pieces featured in the program, the Capricorn Concerto is certainly worth a good listening – as much as the very naive CD cover is worth a good laugh ! Not as light-hearted as it may initially sound, this composition reminiscent of the concerto grosso genre pays tribute to the “neo-classical Axis” Bach-Stravinsky-Martinu. The trio, particularly the oboe-player, Lajos Lencsés, gives an ideally vivid and playful interpretation.
First Symphony
(+ Robert Schumann : Symphony No.4)

Bavarian State Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Farao / S108-019

« An outstanding performance of the First Symphony . This wonderful work composed in 1936 by the 26 year-old Samuel Barber strikes by its ambitious and fully-fledged dimension, with its one-movement structure integrating the traditional four movements. One can easily imagine that Schoenberg could have written the piece, had he not taken the atonal-dodecaphonic path. » Philippe van den Bosch, ConcertoNet (complete review - in French )
THE YOUNG GENERATION
THE YOUNG GENERATION

Complete Works for Orchestra In six volumes :Symphonies No. 1-2, Essays No. 1-3, Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto, Capricorn Concerto, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, Medea (Suite), Die Natali, Knoxville Summer of 1915, Music for a Scene from Shelley, Mutations from Bach, A Hand of Bridge, Commando March, Fadograph of a Yestern Scene, Canzonetta, Serenade, Souvenirs, Intermezzo of Vanessa, Overture « The School for Scandal »

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Marin Alsop
Naxos / 8.559024, 8.559044, 8.559088, 8.559133, 8.559134, 8.559135

The budget-label Naxos strikes hard with the release of Barber’s complete works for orchestra under the baton of Marin Alsop, one of the most talented conductors of the young generation. Leading the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, she instills eloquence, instinct and energy into each of these performances. The six volumes are, overall, of excellent quality, especially the Piano and Cello Concertos (with Stephen Prutsman and Wendy Warner), the Medea ballet and Knoxville Summer of 1915 (with Karina Gauvin). The two symphonies are both outstanding – the second being a personal favorite of Marin Alsop. Fans of Barber should add to their Naxos collection the complete works for choir (Ormond College Choir).
Complete Works for Orchestra In six volumes :Symphonies No. 1-2, Essays No. 1-3, Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto, Cello Concerto, Capricorn Concerto, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, Medea (Suite), Die Natali, Knoxville Summer of 1915, Music for a Scene from Shelley, Mutations from Bach, A Hand of Bridge, Commando March, Fadograph of a Yestern Scene, Canzonetta, Serenade, Souvenirs, Intermezzo of Vanessa, Overture « The School for Scandal »

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Marin Alsop
Naxos / 8.559024, 8.559044, 8.559088, 8.559133, 8.559134, 8.559135

The budget-label Naxos strikes hard with the release of Barber’s complete works for orchestra under the baton of Marin Alsop, one of the most talented conductors of the young generation. Leading the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, she instills eloquence, instinct and energy into each of these performances. The six volumes are, overall, of excellent quality, especially the Piano and Cello Concertos (with Stephen Prutsman and Wendy Warner), the Medea ballet and Knoxville Summer of 1915 (with Karina Gauvin). The two symphonies are both outstanding – the second being a personal favorite of Marin Alsop. Fans of Barber should add to their Naxos collection the complete works for choir (Ormond College Choir).
Hermit Songs, Mélodies passagères, Nocturne, 2 Songs op.2, 3 Songs op.10, Sure on this Shining Night, With Rue my Heart is Laden

Gerald Finley, Julius Drake, Aronowitz Ensemble
Hyperion / CD67528

The Canadian baritone Gerald Finley discovered Barber's music through Thomas Allen's recording of Dover Beach. This selection of Barber's songs is just as astounding. Finley delivers a very fine performance of the Mélodies Passagères, based on French poems by Rilke and dedicated to Francis Poulenc. The rest of the program is equally inspired, and earned this CD the Gramophone Award 2008 for the best solo vocal recording.
Vanessa

Susan Graham, Christine Brewer, William Burden, Catherine Wyn-Rogers
BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers
Leonard Slatkin
Chandos / CHA 5032

Recorded during the triumphant series of performances at the Barbican Center of London in 2003, this Vanessa is an absolute modern reference. Susan Graham is a breathtakingly natural Erika, while Catherine Wyn-Rogers sounds cut to enact the Baroness. In the leading role, Christine Brewer is no smaller Vanessa than Eleanor Steber was. Slatkin manages to instill big-scale drama into this “chamber drama” (shortened from 4 to 3 acts) and the orchestra plays with vivid richness. A desert island disc.
Violin concerto

James Ehnes
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey
CBC Records / SMCD 5241

Violin concerto

Gil Shaham
London Symphony Orchestra
André Previn
Deutsche Grammophon / 439 8862 9

The Violin Concerto is probably Barber’s most popular work for orchestra, together with the Adagio. At the turn of the 21st century, a number of great virtuosos gave wonderful interpretations of the Concerto : Itzhak Perlman (EMI), Hilary Hahn (Sony), Anne Akiko Meyers (RCA), Joshua Bell (Decca). In quite a miraculous way, the 31 year-old James Ehnes and 22 year-old Gil Shaham somehow managed to oust those prestigious versions. The two musicians have so many qualities in common that they are impossible to tell apart : complete technical mastery serving maximum expressivity as well as astounding mastery of all registers (drama, humor, playfulness and nostalgia.), a sumptuous sound and permanent complicity with a totally committed orchestra. The same qualities appear in their respective rendition of the Korngold Concerto. The Walton is an extraordinary fill-up in Ehnes’ album.
Violin concerto

James Ehnes
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey
CBC Records / SMCD 5241

Violin concerto

Gil Shaham
London Symphony Orchestra
André Previn
Deutsche Grammophon / 439 8862 9

The Violin Concerto is probably Barber’s most popular work for orchestra, together with the Adagio. At the turn of the 21st century, a number of great virtuosos gave wonderful interpretations of the Concerto : Itzhak Perlman (EMI), Hilary Hahn (Sony), Anne Akiko Meyers (RCA), Joshua Bell (Decca). In quite a miraculous way, the 31 year-old James Ehnes and 22 year-old Gil Shaham somehow managed to oust those prestigious versions. The two musicians have so many qualities in common that they are impossible to tell apart : complete technical mastery serving maximum expressivity as well as astounding mastery of all registers (drama, humor, playfulness and nostalgia.), a sumptuous sound and permanent complicity with a totally committed orchestra. The same qualities appear in their respective rendition of the Korngold Concerto. The Walton is an extraordinary fill-up in Ehnes’ album.
Cello Concerto

Anne Gastinel
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Justin Brown
Naive / NA4961

French musicians seem still quite reluctant to venture into the American repertoire. Hence the surprise with this brilliant interpretation of Barber’s Cello Concerto by Anne Gastinel. No heated argument in her dialogue with the orchestra, but a genuinely passionate conversation that’s full of clarity. The cellist unfolds the Andante, the emotional heart of this masterwork, with a noble, desolate and poignant bow.
Piano Sonata, Nocturne, Excursions, Souvenirs, Ballade, Interlude I

Leon McCawley
Virgin Classics / 5-45270-2

Released in 1997, this recording by a 24 year-old British pianist is much more than a “debut album”. It is simply the best contemporary anthology of Barber’s piano works. McCawley skims above the technical difficulty of the Sonata, plays the Excursions and Souvenirs with panache and humor, throws himself in the three miniatures of the program with an exquisite sense of poetry. A revelation that already sounds like a consecration.
Piano sonata

Marc-André Hamelin
Hyperion / CDA 67469

While always under control, Hamelin’s interpretation, stirring and crystal-clear, transcends the Piano Sonata to make a monument of harmony, strength and euphoria out of it. The Concord Sonata of Charles Ives is a provocative addition to this album : Barber hated Ives’ music !
Knoxville Summer of 1915, Serenade for strings

Measha Brueggergosman
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Roy Goodman
CBC Records / SMCD 5234

Before becoming the rising star of Deutsche Grammophon, Measha Brueggergosman recorded this all-American program at the beginning of her career. Both the quality of the chamber orchestra and the talent of the Canadian soprano as a story-teller give that little bit of extra something that makes the cozy atmosphere of this album a highly enjoyable experience.
Toccata Festiva

David Schrader
Grant Park Orchestra, Carlos Kalmar
Cedille / CDR 90000 0634

Composed in 1960 especially for the brand new Aeolian-Skinner organ of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Toccata Festiva is a one-movement organ concerto in disguise. David Schrader and Carlos Kalmar sign a wonderful interpretation, both sparkling and dramatic. The recording mirrors the spot-on organ/orchestra balance. Fifteen minutes of musical bliss.
Songs

Roberta Alexander
Tan Crone
Roy Goodman
Etcetera / KTC 1055

Published in 1995, this almost complete recording of Barber's song-cycles (the Mélodies passagères and the 3 Songs op.45 are missing) featured the world-premiere of Despite and Still. Roberta Alexander's performance impresses by its technical mastery and extreme versatility : the singer is equally at ease with the intimistic art songs of the op.13 and with more dramatic songs such as I Hear an Army, Nuvoletta or the always surprising Hermit Songs.
ANTHOLOGIES & OTHERS
ANTHOLOGIES & OTHERS

"Do Not Utter a Word " (Vanessa)

Kate Royal
English National Opera Orchestra, Edward Gardner
EMI / 68192
"Do Not Utter a Word " (Vanessa)

Kate Royal
English National Opera Orchestra, Edward Gardner
EMI / 68192
Anthologie « American Anthem »
Sure on This Shining Night op.13n°3
Nocturne op.13 n°

Nathan Gunn, Kevin Murphy
English National Opera Orchestra, Edward Gardner
EMI « American Classics » / 95226
In the Dark Pinewood, Beggar's Song, Sleep Now,
Of That So Sweet Imprisonment

Susan Narucki, Chris Pedro Trakas, Donald Berman
Bridge / 9271 A-D
Concerto pour violon, Knoxville Summer 1915, Adagio,Ouverture « The School for Scandal », Essay for orchestra n°1, Medea’s Dance of Vengeance

Elmar Oliveira, Orchestre Symphonique de St. Louis, Leonard Slatkin
Barbara Hendricks, Orchestre symphonique de Londres, Michael Tilson Thomas
EMI « American Classics » / 0 66252 3
Sonate pour violoncelle & piano, Summer Music, Canzone, Excursions, Nocturne, Souvenirs

Israela Margalit, Alan Stepansky, Jeanne Baxtresser, Philip Myers, Joseph Robinson, Judith LeClair
EMI « American Classics » / 2 34473 2
Concerto pour violon

Itzhak Perlman
Orchestre symphonique de Boston, Seiji Ozawa
EMI / 0 82862 2
Sonate pour piano

Peter Lawson / EMI « American Classics » / 2 34465 2
Nocturne, The Daisies, St. Ita's Vision

Michael Sheppard / Harmonia Mundi / HMU907475
Nocturne, Interlude I

Sebastian Knauer / Berlin Classics / 0012472BC

Since their first performances, works of contemporaries of Barber such as Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein have never ceased to be recorded. Similarly, the music of Samuel Barber has regularly been recorded since the 30’s, and championed by what can now be identified as three generations of musicians :

The Founders often premiered the works and represent, nowadays, the original spirit of Barber’s music. Their interpretations are priceless historical testimonies;

The Heirs were at the outset of their career when Barber reached his last few years. Some of them even had the occasion to discuss Barber’s music with the composer himself;

Today, the Young Generation is the third generation of interpreters, with their own stimulating and inventive approach to Barber’s music. Thanks to their enthusiasm, Barber’s works are still regularly recorded in studios and performed in concert halls all over the world.

The three lists below will be updated as new recordings are released.

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documentary by Paul H. Moon (2017)

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THE FOUNDERS

THE FOUNDERS

Hermit Songs, Sleep Now, The Daisies, Nocturne, Nuvoletta, mélodies de Poulenc, Sauguet, Fauré + Barber sings Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, CPE Bach, Schubert & 6 folksongs

Hermit Songs, Sleep Now, The Daisies, Nocturne, Nuvoletta, mélodies de Poulenc, Sauguet, Fauré + Barber sings Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, CPE Bach, Schubert & 6 folksongs

Piano sonata, Excursions, Nocturne, Interlude n°1, Ballade

Cello concerto, Medea, Symphony n°2 Nocturne, Interlude n°1, Ballade

Capricorn Concerto, Symphony n°1, Ouverture « The School for Scandal », Adagio for Strings, Cello Sonata, Dover Beach, Essay n°1

Voices in the Wilderness
Six American Neo-Romantic Composers

Hermit Songs, Sleep Now, The Daisies, Nocturne,
Nuvoletta, mélodies de Poulenc, Sauguet, Fauré +
Barber sings Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, CPE
Bach, Schubert & 6 folksongs

Hermit Songs, Sleep Now, The Daisies, Nocturne,
Nuvoletta, mélodies de Poulenc, Sauguet, Fauré +
Barber sings Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, CPE
Bach, Schubert & 6 folksongs

Piano sonata, Excursions,
Nocturne, Interlude n°1, Ballade

Cello concerto, Medea, Symphony n°2
Nocturne, Interlude n°1, Ballade

Adagio, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance,
Symphony n°1, Souvenirs (4 hands),
Piano concerto, Violin concerto,
Cello concerto, Capricorn Concerto

Adagio, Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance,
Symphony n°1, Souvenirs (4 hands),
Piano concerto, Violin concerto,
Cello concerto, Capricorn Concerto

Symphony n°1,
Essays for orchestra n°1-2,
Ouverture « The School for Scandal », Adagio, Music for a Scene from Shelley,

Dover Beach, Adagio
(+ Butterworth, Bush, Coallier)

Dover Beach, Adagio
(+ Butterworth, Bush, Coallier)

Piano Concerto, Nocturne
(+ Britten)

Violin Concerto
(+ Corigliano, Bates)

Reincarnations
(+ Lauridsen, Muhly, Crouch, Crabtree, Forrest, Britt, DiOrio, Runestad, Ticheli)

String Quartet
(+ Copland, Gershwin, Dvorák, Brubeck)

Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, Commando March
(+ Copland, Schwarz, Creston, Grainger, Rands, Offenbach)

Themes, Petite Berceuse, Freshfrom West Chester, Prelude to a Tragic Drama, 3 Sketches, To Aunt Mamie on her Birthday, 3 Essays*, Interludes I & II, Souvenirs, After the Concert, Ballade

A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map
(+ Copland, Reich, Cage, Feldman, Bernstein)

Cello Concerto, Cello Sonata
Adagio for Strings

The Lovers, Reincarnations,
Sure on this shining night,
Agnus Dei, Easter Chorale,
2 Chœurs op.8, 2 Chœurs op.42,
A Stopwatch & an Ordnance Map

Sonata Op.26,
Nocturne op.33,
Ballade op.46 + Charles Griffes : Sonata,
3 Tone Pictures,
Fantasy Pieces,
A Winter Landscape

Violin Concerto
(+ Adagio for Strings / Khachaturian : Violin Concerto)

Violin Concerto
(+ Korngold : Violin Concerto /
Waxman : Carmen-Fantasy /
Williams : Schindler's List)

Violin Concerto
(+ Korngold : Violin Concerto /
Waxman : Carmen-Fantasy /
Williams : Schindler's List)

Violin Concerto
(+ Adagio for Strings / Khachaturian : Violin Concerto)

String Quartet Op.11
(+ Antonin Dvorák : String Quartet No.12
Charles Tomlinson Griffes : 2 Sketches)

Hermit Songs, Despite and Still,
3 Songs op.45, Nuvoletta,
Sure on this Shining Night,
Rain has fallen, The Secrets of the Old,
Monks and Raisins

String Quartet op.11
(+ Steve Reich : Different Trains
George Crumb: Black Angels)

Knoxville Summer of 1915
(+ Britten : Les Illuminations
Berlioz : Les Nuits d'été)

Piano Sonata, Excursions,
Souvenirs, Nocturne,
Interludes I & II, 3 Sketches, Ballade

Historical Recordings 1935-1960
1935-1960

Violin Concerto, Adagio for Strings
(+ Walton : Violin Concerto,
2 Pieces for Strings from Henry V)

Piano Sonata, Excursions
(+ Ives : Piano Sonata No.1 / Debussy : 6 Etudes
Bartók : Suite "Out of Doors", 6 Bulgarian Dances
Ravel : Valses nobles & sentimentales, Pavane pour
une infante défunte, Alborado del Gracioso)

Adagio for Strings
(+ Strauss : Metamorphosen
Mahler : Adagietto from the Symphony No.5)

Cello Concerto,
Symphony No. 2, Medea-Suite