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.

Releases 2012

 

 

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

Cypress String Quartet
CPA Association

Flanked by the world-famous "American" String Quartet by Dvořák 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]

Releases 2011

 

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]

 

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.

 

Releases 2010

 

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 No.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 n°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 ?

Leontyne Price, Frederica von Stade, Marylin Horne, Martin Katz, Samuel Barber
Vladimir Horowitz, Isaac Stern, Curtis String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet
Choir of Trinity College, 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
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Marin Alsop
6 CD Naxos / 8.506021

Inspired conducting, eloquent orchestra & soloists : a highly recommendable 6-CD set ! [details]

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, John Neschling
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]

 

 

Releases 2008-2009

 

 

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, organ /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 Katsnelson 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)

 

In short…
(reissues, archives, encores)

Complete Works for Orchestra
Stephen Prutsman, Wendy Warner,
James Buswell, Karina Gauvin, Thomas Trotter
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Marin Alsop
6 CD Naxos / 8.506021

 

 

"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°4
Nathan Gunn, Kevin Murphy
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

 

Violin concerto, Knoxville Summer 1915, Adagio, Ouverture  « The School for Scandal », Essay for orchestra n°1, Medea’s Dance of Vengeance
Elmar Oliveira, Barbara Hendricks,
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas
EMI « American Classics » / 0 66252 3

 

 

Cello Sonata, Summer Music, Canzone, Excursions, Nocturne, Souvenirs
Israela Margalit, Alan Stepansky, Jeanne Baxtresser, Philip Myers, Joseph Robinson, Judith LeClair
EMI « American Classics » / 2 34473 2

 

 

Violin concerto
Itzhak Perlman
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Seiji Ozawa
EMI / 0 82862 2

   

 

 

Piano sonata
Peter Lawson
EMI « American Classics » / 2 34465 2

 

 

 

Nocturne (piano transcription of op.13/4),
The Daisies, St. Ita's Vision
Michael Sheppard
Harmonia Mundi / HMU907475

 

 

 

Nocturne (op. 33), Interlude I
Sebastian Knauer
Berlin Classics / 0012472BC

 

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The Founders

 

Hermit Songs, Sleep Now, The Daisies, Nocturne, Nuvoletta, songs by 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
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 / New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruno Walter / NBC Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini / Janssen Symphony of L.A, Werner Janssen / Raya Garbousova, Erich Itor Kahn / Samuel Barber, Curtis String Quartet / Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy
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.  

 

Violin concerto, Piano concerto, Ouverture « The School for Scandal », 2d Essay for Orchestra
Isaac Stern, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein / John Browning, Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell / Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy / New York Philharmonic, Thomas Schippers
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
Orchestra of the Spoleto Festival, 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, Juilliard Quartet/ Leontyne Price, Samuel Barber / Martina Arroyo, New York Philharmonic, 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.

 

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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
Saint-Louis Symphony Orchestra, 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
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.

 

 

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, Interludes I-II, Nocturne, After the Concert, Ballade,
Fresh from West Chester, 3 Sketches
Lilia Boyadjieva
Solstice / SOCD 145

Released in 1996, this album is an event in itself. Many works are released here for the first time (early compositions such as Interlude II, Sketches, Fresh from West Chester, and more mature works such as After the Concert.) The Bulgarian pianist gives a very dramatic reading of the Piano Sonata, but is equally at ease through the Chopinian Nocturne, the playful Excursions or the darker Ballade.

 

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 …

 

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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).

 

 

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.

 

 

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, Ballade, Souvenirs, Excursions, 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 063

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
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.

 

 

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