Customer Reviews

Capricorn-The Samuel Barber Collection

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In the history of 20th century classical music, Samuel Barber is a well-loved, if not "revolutionary", figure. His skill with the craft of melody is justly famous, and his work reflects elegance and craft; however, he was also a master of contrapuntal composition ("Adagio for Strings", aka the second movement of his String Quartet, could be used in advanced composition classes as a masterpiece of counterpoint) and a great orchestrator. His Capricorn Concerto is a jewel-like triple concerto (trumpet, flute and oboe with strings), full of rhythm, movement and light-- the second movement is especially brilliant, with delightful interplay among the solo instruments and a lovely slow section (soft strings and an exquisitely melancholy short oboe solo). The rest of the selections are also well-done and welcome (if the "Adagio" is overplayed, the "Hermit Songs" are just not performed enough!). A nice collection of Barber's high-quality oeuvre.

Samuel Barber is one of my most admired American composers. For many he is the composer of the "Adagio" a thousand times musical curtain (Platoon) and nothing else. But if you scratch beneath the surface, you will find pieces of concise structure and excel originality.

Medea suite explores and describes with peculiar expressiveness, the conceptual density of this Greek tragedy. Passages of febrile intensity and vibrant outburst of primary encountered feelings.

Capricorn's suite is another evidence of the overwhelming creative vein of this first-order composer, whose relevance and importance on international stages have not yet acknowledged. You may feel a visible influence of Copland especially in the last movement of the Suite.

Now it's time to approach to the music of this notable and still overlooked composer.