The 1950 recording has plenty of presence, and her phrasing and her attack on the difficult high writing are something to hear. None of them wrote anything quite as beautiful as "Knoxville: Summer of 1915," and here it receives a performance by the artist who commissioned the piece, Eleanor Steber, when her voice was probably at its peak. I tend to think of him as among the second rank of American composers, after Copland, Roy Harris, Gershwin and one or two others, but that's no disgrace. This is an indispensable issue for anyone who values Barber as a composer.
Sadly no texts are provided although all singer enunciate with care without being mannered.Ī disc made memorable by Arroyo and Steber and by Price's faithful clarity, restraint and grip on the intimacy of her songs. Interpretive values are high and Barber enthusiasts must have this. You have to hear this: Schippers with all his considerable operatic cunning and the NYPO at his bidding make a great collaboration. Still these are all analogue AAD originals and tape saturation had to be managed. A pity that the engineers pull back on the controls at 9.13 just as Arroyo reaches a glorious climax. Did Barber ever contemplate setting Euripides Trojan Women - a subject that was set by Cecil Gray - another of the great unknowns. The music has that same tenderness, that same turbulence and ambition that is to be heard in Barber's own Antony and Cleopatra and Walton's Troilus and Cressida. Here she bids farewell to her son Astyanax who is to be executed by the Greeks. Andromache already bereft of her husband, Hector (her parting from Hector is charted by Bliss in Morning Heroes). Arroyo is in fully blooming operatic voice and there can be no doubting that this is music for a grand auditorium. There is an asperity and astringency about the music in which Barber quarter opens the door to dissonance. The settings are of Irish texts from the 8th to 13th centuries as translated and adapted by Auden, Chester Kallman, Howard Mumford Jones and Sean O'Faolain.Īfter such intimacy the hot up-blast of the orchestra in the scena Andromache's Farewell comes as a voltage jolt to the listener. Price is very clear and I defy you not to be won over in The Monk and his Cat which lilts along with a Caribbean smile. These are well worth hearing and will appeal if you have taken to Leo Smit's Dickinson songs or Finzi's Hardy or the songs of Herbert Howells. Leontyne Price and the composer premiered the Hermit Songs in 1953 and made this recording a year later. It is a work that easily worms its way into your affections - an operatic scena really and of tellingly balanced emotional symmetry. The Steber Knoxville is a pioneering classic but I prefer Dawn Upshaw's Teldec version. It would be welcome if some company would record Maurice Johnstone's setting for baritone and orchestra. Fischer-Dieskau is a mite mournful but Arnold's Dover Beach is admittedly hardly a bright subject. His aunt was the mezzo Louise Homer (1871-1947). This exploration of the vocal dimension of Barber's music has been in the Sony catalogue for a decade - quite a survivor!Īs Robert Cushman says in his booklet notes, Barber came from a family in which the vocal art was prominent. The Desire For Hermitageġ3.Andromache's Farewell, for soprano & orchestra, Op. 24Ģ.Dover Beach, for baritone (or mezzo-soprano) & string quartet, Op. If you believe that any review contained on our site infringes upon your copyright, please email us.Barber - Knoxville Summer of 1915, Dover Beach, Hermit Songs, Andromache's Farewell (1992)ġ.Knoxville: Summer of 1915, for high voice & orchestra (rev.
SAMUEL BARBER DOVER BEACH BARITONE AND PIANO PLUS
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SAMUEL BARBER DOVER BEACH BARITONE AND PIANO FREE
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