Barber: Horizon

Samuel Barber (Composer), Donald Barra (Conductor), Arioso Wind Quintet (Performer), San Diego Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra), Ruth Golden (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Arioso Wind Quintet, Ruth Golden
• Orchestra: San Diego Chamber Orchestra
• Conductor: Donald Barra
• Composer: Samuel Barber
• Audio CD (June 27, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Koch Int'l Classics
• ASIN: B000001SGH
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,661 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Horizon

2. Summer Music For Woodwind

3. Knoxville: Summer Of 1915 For Soprano And Orchestra

4. Serenade For String Orchestra, Op. 1: I. Un poco adagio

5. Serenade For String Orchestra, Op. 1: II. Andante con moto

6. Serenade For String Orchestra, Op. 1: III. Allegro giocoso

7. Capricor Concerto For Flute, Oboe, Trumpet And Orchestra: I. Allegro ma non troppo

8. Capricor Concerto For Flute, Oboe, Trumpet And Orchestra: II. Allegretto

9. Capricor Concerto For Flute, Oboe, Trumpet And Orchestra: III. Allegro con brio

10. Adagio For Strings

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag of Barber's Music, July 19, 2002

By 

D. A Wend (Arlington Heights, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Barber: Horizon (Audio CD)

The reason to buy the disc is Horizon, which is the world premiere recording. Horizon is a short work, rather dark and moody. It is a curiosity for lovers of Samuel Barbers music but not as striking or memorable as the Essays for Orchestra, or the Scene from Shelly. The Knoxville: Summer of 1915 that is recorded here is among the worst. Ruth Golden's voice is completely unsuited, and I could not help wondering how such a recording could have been approved for issue. Unfortunately, it spoils what would otherwise be a fairly nice disc. If one wants to hear a great Knoxville, turn to Price, Steber or Upshaw.

The remaining works on the disc are well played. The Capricorn and Serenade are particularly nice. Then the ubiquitous Adagio for Strings makes its appearance. It is comes off well-enough but has been better played by other orchestras.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In strong disagreement, April 25, 2008

By 

Ivan Weiser (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Barber: Horizon (Audio CD)

I am puzzled by two other reviewers' extraordinarily negative review of Ruth Golden's singing of Knoxville - that her "voice is ugly, the intonation is abysmal, the performance is a mess in every way..", etc.

This is grossly unfair to Ms Golden, who in fact sings the piece quite creditably. What's going on here?

5.0 out of 5 stars On The "Horizon" With The San Diego Chamber Orchestra, November 3, 2011

By 

Erik North (San Gabriel, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Barber: Horizon (Audio CD)

Samuel Barber was clearly one of the great composers of all time in American music, and music of the 20th century in general. He is best known to music lovers for his elegiac "Adagio For Strings", a work once termed by conductor Leonard Slatkin to be America's "music for mourning", which is certainly is. As this 1995 recording by the San Diego Chamber Orchestra and their music director Donald Barra demonstrates, however, there is more to this great composer.

Indeed, this CD includes the very first ever recording of a work Barber composed in 1945, "Horizon", a short but very atmospheric four and a half minute miniature piece for orchestra that is highly engaging; and the rarely heard 1956 "Summer Music" for woodwind quintet, here performed by the Arioso Wind Quintet, who are composed of principal woodwind players of the S.D.C.O., and who also have worked with their larger counterpart the San Diego Symphony. Also featured here are the Serenade For String Orchestra, a work from 1929, and the Capricorn Concerto for flute, oboe, trumpet, and orchestra (from 1944); each of these works gives the S.D.C.O. a good challenge, which they are able to succeed at. The gentle "Knoxville: Summer Of 1915", with text by James Agee, is probably Barber's greatest contribution to the art of song; and I'm going against the grain of a few other reviewers here in saying that soprano soloist Ruth Golden, while she may not compare in terms of this song to, say, Dawn Upshaw or Sylvia McNair, is certainly a long way from being terrible. It is then fitting that the recording should conclude with the much-beloved "Adagio", whose use in films like THE ELEPHANT MAN and PLATOON helped accelerate its popularity, and which has become such an appropriate fixture on 9/11.

To have such a solid and trimmed-down Barber collection being done by a much-underrated small American orchestra like the S.D.C.O. is something to be thankful for, especially when dealing not only with something as well known as the Adagio For Strings, but also the other works that are not necessarily played on classical radio stations every day of the week. This is a recording to have.