NEWS
Now THIS is how it's supposed to sound! I was there for it, and it was brilliant. Nice review from EarRelevant.
Noseda leads vivid new ‘Vanessa’ with strong cast and orchestral sheen | EarRelevant
www.earrelevant.net
Noseda leads a new National Symphony Orchestra recording of Barber’s Vanessa, featuring a star cast and richly detailed orchestral sound.
This is, I must agree, ultimately the truth of the matter...
(The troupe's aggressive acclaim-strain continues to confound, but has a lot to do with identity...)
‘Vanessa’ Review: Heartbeat Opera’s Strident Samuel Barber
www.wsj.com
The New York company offers a stark, taxing adaptation of the composer’s 1958 work, which centers on a woman waiting for her long-gone lover’s return.Caught this at Baruch College, pretty good! Causes one to long for the scale and grandeur of Barber's original orchestration, as this was just a few musicians in a basement black box, but the material is timeless and always a pleasure to revisit. Doubled down into melodrama, at odds with the already delicate balance between the score's intensity, and need for theatrical naturalism. But more troupes will rise to the challenge, to be sure! I'll keep listening to the Slatkin reading for now.
A dear friend of Samuel Barber, who paid tribute until the very end at 101 years old - may she rest in peace.
Her last album, a wonderful magnum opus in 2022 warmly titled "My Life In Music," features this rare performance of Barber's "Fresh from West Chester: II. Let's Sit It Out, I'd Rather Watch": www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1itEKRSoH0
Ruth Slenczynska, pianist child prodigy thought to be Sergei Rachmaninov’s last surviving pupil
www.yahoo.com
Ruth Slenczynska, the pianist who has died aged 101, was thought to have been the last surviving pupil of Sergei Rachmaninov who, she claimed, had once proclaimed her “the greatest talent in the world...
A peculiar pairing tonight, with Yarn/Wire on the first half of the New York Philharmonic program (whose newest evening-length concert film that I shot last year premieres next week), then a bounty of Barber on the second half: his timeless Knoxville: Summer of 1915 sung by Golda Schultz, and the much less frequently programmed Second Essay to climax the concert. Every once in a while, spoiled by such consummate musicians, my belief that Samuel Barber was the greatest composer of all time (yes, very dramatic!) gets affirmed. A lighter work by another composer took the bigger ovation as always, but Barber always accesses something much greater, for eternity, beyond instant gratification.
"And who shall ever tell the sorrow
Of being on this earth, lying, on quilts,
On the grass,
In a summer evening,
Among the sounds of the night.
May God bless my people,
My uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father,
Oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble;
And in the hour of their taking away."
🎂Recommended viewing for Samuel Barber’s birthday: H. Paul Moon’s Samuel Barber: Absolute Beauty. The award-winning documentary about the great American composer (world-famous for his “Adagio for Strings”) aired nationally on PBS back in 2017 and is now available for streaming on demand on Vimeo and elsewhere.
Watch the trailer here:
vimeo.com/ondemand/barber
Barber makes a wish in 1977
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUKoutowqpA
Happy birthday, Sam! It’s a good day for a trip to the Barber.
Opera Essentia Releases Film Version of Händel's 'Radamisto' - OperaWire
Opera Essentia Releases Film Version of Händel's 'Radamisto' - OperaWire
operawire.com
H. Paul Moon's latest opera film, Handel's "Radamisto" has been released.Battle of the Barbers: Augustin Hadelich and Randall Goosby Play Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto - Classic Ross Amico
rossamico.com
I inadvertently schedule two concerts on the same day, both of them featuring the Samuel Barber Violin Concerto!
