Customer Reviews

Music of Samuel Barber

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This is a good collection of the compositions of two of the best 20th Century American Composers, Samuel Barber and Howard Hanson. Barber, best known for his Adagio for Strings (recognized by most as the haunting piece featured in the movie Platoon), also wrote two Symphonies, an excellent Piano Concerto and various works for Orchestra, all featured here on this title. Hanson, a first rate conductor as well as a composer (see my reviews of his Mercury Living Presence titles), is only represented on this collection by his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, despite the fact he wrote numerous Symphonies. The performances presented here are enjoyable, yet my first choices for CDs of Barber's music would have to be the EMI Double Forte with Leonard Slatkin, and an amazing disc of mostly lesser-known works by the late Thomas Schippers on Sony Masterworks Heritage. Of course, Barber's Adagio is seemingly omnipresent and can be had on a plethora of discs; for Hanson I would go straight to the source and hear him conduct his own music. However, all things considered, this set is hard to beat at its budget price.

Really great music but the track listing isn't in the same order as what is on the discs so if you are not familiar with this music you will get very confused!!!!