Customer Reviews

Samuel Barber / Thomas Schippers

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4 star:		(3)
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I personally own every recording released on Barber - well, all most every one. This by far is the most lucid, intense, and true to form version of The Adagio for Strings that is out there. It is not by chance however. This recording was done by Schippers under Barber's direct supervision. Thus, this is the way Barber wanted it to sound. Barber is said to have composed this piece after reading The Georgics, specifically a piece regarding the motion and flow of water. The beauty of this piece of music, especially this version which captures this fluidity, is in its perfect symmetry and simplicity. Like a Fibanocci Series, Barber's piece aescetically spirals in a beautiful set of notes which increasingly grow more intense with each new set. It as if Shippers has caught the feel of a trickle of water becoming a small stream, joining with more water and feeding into a river - then emptying into a delta and merging into the Ocean. One has to cry at the intensity as the peice comes to its climax and there emerges a profound stillness...like entering some private spiritual universe. I've never heard another peice of music that comes close except for Mozart's Don Giovanni.

May we never forget Thomas Schippers. One of the greatest of all American conductors, he graced this earth with his brilliance until 1977, when he died of lung cancer at the age of 47.
This CD, which contains recordings from the early to mid '60's, is a wonderful tribute to him.

He championed, and had a great affinity for the music of Samuel Barber, as this disc will prove. His performance of the gorgeous "Adagio for Strings" is sublime, and by far the best I've heard. I also love "Medea's Dance of Vengance" and "The School for Scandal" Overture. "Andromache's Farewell" features Martina Arroyo (early in her career, at age 27), and her powerful soprano is perfect for this piece.

On this CD one also gets a short and sprightly Gian Carlo Menotti overture, a terrific (also very short) Berg interlude, and the closing d'Indy composition is slow, peaceful, and dreamy.
The booklet has a fair amount of information, including a piece by Menotti, and photos of Schippers (as handsome as a movie star), and Barber.
The total time is 71:22 and the sound is excellent. This was a surprise gift for which I'm very grateful, and I'll be playing it often...now, and way into the future.

Thomas Schippers was a talented conductor who died before his time in 1977. He helped found the Spoleto Festival with Gian Carlo Menoti and had a close affinity for the music of Samuel Barber (although they did not like each other much). Too few of Schippers' recordings have been transfered to CD, but some of his best are included on this disc. This is arguably the best recording of Medea's Dance of Vengence and particularly fine recordings of Barber's Adagio and School For Scandal Overture. If you have an interest in the music of Samuel Barber, you can't do better than the recordings presented here.

All of the earlier reviewers have hit upon the magic of these performances by Schippers of much of Samuel Barber's most memorable music. It's almost become cliche...since Roosevelt's funeral, I suppose...to use the Barber "Adagio for Strings" as an old-reliable underpinning for cinematic sadness. What's not always easy, though, is to get beyond the sheer beauty of the string writing to the heart of the vocal quality that Barber imbues his best scores with; the lines have to breathe and truly "sing", as in Schubert's 8th, the "Unfinished." Schippers accomplished that with his reading of the Barber Adagio.

It's almost a reflex...no matter how many times I hear this disc, as soon as his forces are few bars into the opening, the tears start to roll. It's like hearing Schwarzkopf or Norman singing the Strauss "Four Last Songs," or Marriner's reading of the Vaughan Williams "Tallis Fantasia." Schippers just takes you THERE.

Like many of the other reviewers, I've lived with the Schippers Barber performances since the LP era. And yes, the balance of his body of recordings for CBS/Sony need to be reissued. Schippers' gift was a marriage of Bernstein-like emotion with a balanced tone not unlike Jochum playing Bruckner. Hard to pull off, yes, but, that was Schippers' gift.

With both Bernstein and Schippers in the old Columbia stable of artists, I doubt that he'd have had the chance to do his own Mahler cycle with them; that was Lenny's show. Not even George Szell managed to complete one. Schippers had the musical vision for it, though; had he lived, he just might have signed with another label and.....oh well. We can only just imagine.

Is there anything to add to the string of glowing reviews of this CD? Perhaps not but I feel an obligation as it has been part of my life since I first bought it in 1967--and wore out several LP versions of it. The combination of composition, interpretation, playing, and engineering of the Barber pieces is unparalleled in my experience; each must be considered as definitive. I particularly favor the Second Essay which comes across as a major work of it era and should appear in concert more often. The contibution by Martina Arroyo is just an extra added attraction in this extended compilation. Legendary!

this is an absolutely phenomenal collection of compositions recorded by thomas schippers during his regrettably short career. there is not a false note among the offerings. for me, "medea's meditation and dance of vengeance" is the highlight of the disc. however, all of the other pieces are at a similar plane of all-around excellence both from performance and recording standpoints.

all in all, a disc to own, treasure, and play again and again!!

I own many cds of Samuel Barber, and of all of them, this is my favorite.

I can't think of a single complaint, except perhaps that the inclusion of small pieces by three other composers was somewhat unnecessary, and broke the mood of the Barber.

There are several must-have CDs of Sam Barber's music, and this one is at the very top. I consider this to be the best single CD of his music, though you will no doubt need a supplement or two.

This CD contains the famous Adagio for Strings, op.11, the scena "Andromache's Farewell," the Intermezzo from his opera 'Vanessa,' Medea's Meditation & Dance of Vengeance, the School for Scandal overture, and a very powerful Second Essay for Orchestra.

A newer release from Sony containing orchestral and chamber works duplicates the performance of this Adagio, but both CDs are different and are must-haves.

As for the music itself, how can you not be moved by Martina Arroyo's spellbinding singing in "Andromache's Farewell," or the Bartokian "Medea's Dance"? or the the great sadness of this Adagio, which is perhaps the best there is. Thomas Schippers and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra play Barber as true believers in his greatness. Barber deserves the title as The Greatest American Composer. Perhaps a title like that is subjective, but Barber's greatness is not.

I personally own every recording released on Barber - well, all most every one. This by far is the most lucid, intense, and true to form version of The Adagio for Strings that is out there. It is not by chance however. This recording was done by Schippers under Barber's direct supervision. Thus, this is the way Barber wanted it to sound. Barber is said to have composed this piece after reading The Georgics, specifically a piece regarding the motion and flow of water. The beauty of this piece of music, especially this version which captures this fluidity, is in its perfect symmetry and simplicity. Like a Fibanocci Series, Barber's piece aescetically spirals in a beautiful set of notes which increasingly grow more intense with each new set. It as if Shippers has caught the feel of a trickle of water becoming a small stream, joining with more water and feeding into a river - then emptying into a delta and merging into the Ocean. One has to cry at the intensity as the peice comes to its climax and there emerges a profound stillness...like entering some private spiritual universe. I've never heard another peice of music that comes close except for Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Both Thomas Schippers and Samuel Barber share the same birth date (March 9). Could this be karma,or can we believe that Thomas Schippers had a deep sensitity to delineating the music of Barber and Menotti? I've had this LP for years (with both covers), and considered it a treasure in my collection. Now CBS, please continue to make available more archived LPs like this one. This recording gives an interesting collage of Barber's music, from his "Adagio", to other selections (Barber and Menotti) rarely programmed on live, symphonic programs or radio concerts. It is one of those that captures your listening senses straight through. I am SO happy to see this available, so my comments are tainted with the prejudices carried by a young record collector suddenly discovering some terrific music now reissued on CD!

This is an interesting disc with much to enjoy. Barber's music is not to everyone's taste, but these recordings make a strong case for his music. Especially beautiful is Barber's Overture to the School for Scandal. An interesting note is the conducting of Thomas Schippers, a promising young conductor who died early and left few good examples of that promise on record.