MUSIC OF SAMUEL BARBER

Samuel Barber's most popular orchestral works have seldom been as well-performed as they were by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin. This wonderful EMI recording is a lasting testament to the great things that Slatkin accomplished during his long tenure in St. Louis.

The overture to "The School for Scandal" was an early triumph for Samuel Barber and it was clearly an exciting, dramatic, and sometimes lyrical work. Slatkin is very sensitive and understanding of this music and was able to lead the St. Louis musicians in one of the best performances of this popular work.

Perhaps Barber's best-known work is the "Adagio for Strings," originally part of a string quartet. It bears the distinction of having a world premiere under the legendary Arturo Toscanini. It's interesting to note that Barber had gone to Italy one summer and managed to meet the Maestro, who was on his own summer vacation. Toscanini was impressed with the aspiring, young composer and was soon even more impressed with the "Adagio for Strings." Toscanini chose to premiere the "Adagio" with the NBC Symphony on a broadcast performance. It is one of the most deeply moving compositions by any American composer. I've seldom heard such a powerful performance as this one by Slatkin and the St. Louis orchestra.

Toscanini also premiered the first of Barber's "Essays for Orchestra." Interestingly, however, the first recording of this energetic, colorfully orchestrated work was by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in a 12-inch 78-rpm RCA Victor Red Seal recording. Slatkin not only conducted this work but the two essays which followed, the third of which is one of Barber's later works (with rather spectacular, imaginative writing for percussion).

Finally, there is the rather jazzy and compelling "Medea's Dance of Vengeance." One critic referred to this as a boogie woogie for orchestra. It is very syncopated and almost overwhelming in its intensity, particularly in this performance. Anyone familiar with the legend of Medea will recognize that Barber has managed to faithfully depict the horrible events in this memorable work. -- Robert E. Nylund See more.

ADAGIO FOR STRINGS

Samuel Barber (1910 - )




A suave style combined with elegant workmanship has made Barber one of the major voices in American music. For a long time he was regarded as a conservative composer, because he was more concerned with expressing his inmost feelings unashamedly than with embarking on new forms and novel experiments. But later compositions reveal an increasing independence of style and thought, together with the necessity to utilize the fullest resources of modern writing. The outstanding trait of his major works is a capacity to project subtle moods and atmospheres. His is a deeply poetic temperament reflected in everything he has written.

Written in 1937, and introduced at a concert of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, on November 5, 1938, the Adagio for Strings is built out of a single theme (heard at the beginning of the piece in the violins). A poetic mood is sustained throughout the work. Sibelius, who saw the manuscript, remarked: “I am glad to say that I consider this music excellent…(It is)…good art, and especially do I like its simplicity.