Customer Reviews

Barber: Violin Concerto; Cello Concerto; Capricorn Concerto

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While the Barber Violin Concerto is here excellent, I would argue that Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony's foray on EMI with Olivera is even better, with delicious sound to match, and maybe just a little more attention to orchestral detail.

However, this disc is worth the price for the cello concerto. I have Ma and Isserlis, and here, Isserlis takes the prize by far. He is "into" the music, such that it sounds not only familiar, bet well-loved by him. He presents the work with flair and sensitivity, and Slatkin offers outstanding support. The other work, the Capricorn Concerto is a fun romp, if not as immediately accessible as the Violin Concerto. But the superb soloists, especially Susan Slaughter, bring it to life.

Barber and Slatkin are a great match!

The Barber violin concerto has long been a pinnacle of the repertoire, and this is perhaps the finest modern recording of this glorious work. Takezawa's tone is voluptious, her intonation flawless, her tonal shading exquisite. The violin playing is more ravishing than Kremer's or Hahn's accounts, which are both lauded modern versions. Only Stern's pioneering account can match this recording however for inspitation.

The other performances on the disc are another matter. Barber's Cello concerto is one of the finest written for the instrument and certainly worthy of its place alongside the Shostakovich concerti and Dvorak's in the canon of 'great' cello music. Unfortuntaley it is also horrendously difficult for the soloist which perhaps accounts for its comparative neglect. Isserlis can play the piece, but this is a small scale reading, not taking into account the romantic sweep and soaring melodies of this more veiled concerto. Ultimately his account is unengaging and cannot sustain interest. Of the 10 versions I have heard, Wendy Warner's performance on Naxos is by far the finest account, being both bold and beautifully sensitive, passionate and virtuosic. Yo-Yo Ma is also OK, but cannot match the sher passion and drama of Warner. Nelsova is worth mentioning as it was conducted by Barber himself, but her technique occasionally lets her down because of Barber's high speeds (and the ensemble is not always quite together).

The Capricorn concerto is quite nicely recorded here, but also ultimately fails to convince. Again it is left to Naxos for the best recording of this unjustly neglected and uniquely beautiful work that is unlike anything else in Barber.

The CD is easily worth the price just for Takezawa's account of the violin concerto, but for the other pieces look to Naxos.

Like a lot of others, I was familiar with the famous adagio for strings,and a few other Barber pieces...but I had no ideal how beautiful the violin concerto was. It's a shame to realize how Barber and other "Tonal" composers were looked down on in their own time...perhaps we're far enough removed to begin to appreciate Barber and other composers similar to him. The performances are all outstanding...Isserlis, and Takezawa give
definitive takes on this music...Slatkin makes a great partner: 5 stars

I'm glad BMG paired the popular violin concerto with two of Barber's more problematic works. The Capricorn Concerto was his bid to write in the neo-classical style, but without Hindemith's rigor or Stravinsky's genius, this quasi-Brandenbrug Concerto for flute, oboe, trumpet and strings seems to twitter away without mush purpose--it passes by innocuously, lacking even one of Barber's signature arching melodies. Slatkin's performance is sleek and polite. I think this work needs a lot more to reach an audience.

The ohter problem work is the Cello Concerto, which feels restless and wayward, without a center except in the songful slow movement, essentially an aria for cello. The two outer movements are like endless sewing-machine music; they need a lot of commitment to come across. Steven Isserlis, never a risk-taker, does a nice job in a low-key, introspective way. Slatkin follows suit with the orchestral part.

I had my highest hopes for the familiar Violin Concerto, and certainly Kyoko Takezawa, briefly a featured artist on BMG, is preferable to the dullish Oliveira, Slatkin's soloist on his first recording of this piece for EMI. But Slatkin remains a slack accompanist, and compared to the unsurpaased Isaac Stern with Bernstein (Sony), and the winning Gil Shaham with Previn (on the young Shaham's breakout album for DG), this reading, although very good, lacks charisma.

I saw Takezawa play Honolulu 9/99 without ever having heard her music. The Washington Post says she's one of the world's best; i have no reason to think otherwise. Her encore of a japanese lullybye made it complete. I fantasize about her giving me a private concert.