Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber, one of the most prominent and popular American composers of the mid-20th century, wrote effectively in virtually every genre, including opera, ballet, vocal, choral, keyboard, chamber, and orchestral music. His music is notable for its warmly Romantic lyricism, memorable melodies, and essentially conservative harmonic style, all of which put him at odds with the prevailing modernist aesthetic of his time.
Barber was a member of the first class at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1928, the 17-year-old Gian Carlo Menotti came to study at Curtis, and the two formed a personal and professional bond that would last most of Barber's life. As a student, Barber wrote several works that have entered the repertoire, including the song Dover Beach and Overture to the School for Scandal for orchestra. A fine singer and pianist, as well as composer, much of his work throughout his career featured the voice.
After his graduation from Curtis, Barber wrote a string quartet, the second movement of which became his most famous work, Adagio for Strings. Toscanini performed the Adagio with the NBC Symphony in 1938, and Barber's career was effectively launched. His 1939 Violin Concerto further established his international reputation. During the Second World War, Barber served in the Army Air Corps, where his duties included writing a symphony, his second. Works that followed over the next two decades include the Capricorn Concerto; a Cello Concerto; a Piano Sonata; Knoxville: Summer of 1915, an extended song for voice and orchestra with a text by James Agee; Hermit Songs, for voice and piano, using medieval texts; the chamber opera A Hand of Bridge; Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, taken from the ballet Cave of the Heart, written for Martha Graham; Summer Music, for wind quintet; the opera Vanessa; and a Piano Concerto. Some of the most prestigious musicians in the world performed his music and became champions of his work, including Leontyne Price, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Eleanor Steber, Martina Arroyo, Vladimir Horowitz, Arturo Toscanini, Eugene Ormandy, Bruno Walter, George Szell, and Serge Koussevitzky.
Barber received his first Pulitzer Prize for Vanessa, which had been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, had its premiere in 1958, and was hailed as the first great American "grand opera." His 1962 Piano Concerto won the composer his second Pulitzer Prize. The Metropolitan Opera commissioned Barber to write an opera to inaugurate its new opera house in Lincoln Center in 1966. Antony and Cleopatra, based on Shakespeare with a libretto by Franco Zeffirelli, proved to be a failure due at least as much to flaws in the production as to the music. Barber was so devastated by the intensity of the animosity toward his work that he never regained his confidence. He was temperamentally disposed to melancholy, which turned into clinical depression, and although he continued to compose sporadically, he produced few further works of substance.
In spite of the indifference or contempt of critics and the academic establishment, Barber's expressive and directly communicative music has never lacked support and devotion from concert audiences, and he remains one of the best-known and beloved American composers. His Adagio for Strings has achieved iconic status as a profound and universally understood expression of grief and remains a testament to Barber's ability to write music of the highest artistic standards that can also touch the heart.
© Stephen Eddins /TiVo
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Adagio for String op. 11
Samuel Barber, Thomas Bowes, Malmö Opera Orchestra
Classical - Released by Navona on 7 Jul 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Samuel Barber, Jacek Kaspszyk, London Symphony Orchestra
Lounge - Released by PMI Collins Classics on 25 Jan 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
50 Ultimate Choral Classics
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 11 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barber Adagio . American Chamber Music
Chamber Music - Released by Onyx Classics on 22 Sep 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
ADAGIO FOR STRINGS
Samuel Barber, Francois Myrand
Film Soundtracks - Released by François Myrand on 30 Dec 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Samuel Barber Piano Concerto & Solo Piano Works
Classical - Released by Meyer Media, LLC on 10 Feb 2017
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Samuel Barber: The Lovers, Op. 43
Martin Häßler, Landesjugendchor Sachsen, Jugendsinfonieorchester Leipzig, Ron-Dirk Entleutner, Randall Thompson, Samuel Barber
Classical - Released by Rondeau Production on 26 May 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Soundtrack for the end of the world
Classical - Released by Classic Records on 7 Apr 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barber: An Introduction
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 4 Jul 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Adagio Collection
Classical - Released by Syrinx on 25 Nov 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Samuel Barber
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Stradivari Classics on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Film Music
Classical - Released by Classic Records on 28 Apr 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barber - Essentials
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 17 Apr 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Samuel Barber: Piano Concerto - William Schuman: A Song of Orpheus
The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell
Classical - Released by Soundmark Records on 14 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
1930´s Voice & Organ
Helge Gramstrup, Ekaterina Michailova
Classical - Released by CDklassisk on 16 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Excursions: Piano Music From Barber and Bauer
Classical - Released by Endeavour Classics on 12 Sep 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mélodies Passagères: The Songs of Samuel Barber
Gweneth-Ann Jeffers, Stephen de Pledge
Classical - Released by Quartz Music Ltd on 4 Feb 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rare Vintage Recordings
Vocal Jazz - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Samuel Barber: Vanessa (1958), Vol. 1
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Eleanor Steber
Opera - Released by Classical Moments on 1 Jan 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 – René Gerber: The Old Farmer's Almanac for Orchestra
George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra Bucarest
Classical - Released by VDE-GALLO on 16 Feb 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Der Kölner Dom (Oder die Wahrheit über Meister Gerhard)
Albert Fetzer, Carl Orff, Samuel Barber
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Ars Audiendi oHG on 1 Oct 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo