American Classics

[teamsaint]

Today's brought the Barber Violin Concerto,much lauded round here. Russian Phil/Sanderling/Shapira.

I really cannot understand how I haven't heard this before on R3. Perhaps i just missed it.

[Suffolkcoastal]

The Barber Violin Concerto is broadcast a handful of times each year on R3. We hardly ever get the Cello or Piano Concertos however (the latter is my favourite of the three). It is a great pity that Piston's 1st Violin Concerto isn't given the exposure the Barber is, as its such an appealing and inventive work.

[teamsaint]

The Barber Violin Concerto is broadcast a handful of times each year on R3. We hardly ever get the Cello or Piano Concertos however (the latter is my favourite of the three). It is a great pity that Piston's 1st Violin Concerto isn't given the exposure the Barber is, as its such an appealing and inventive work.

I must admit I was genuinely surprised that I hadn't heard it on R3....I must just have missed it often !
Good news about the Piston VC #1, as I just ordered it a couple of days ago on a whim !
Good news also that the RPO disc has the PC as well...not got there yet.

[Suffolkcoastal]

You should enjoy the Piston, it should be a standard repertoire piece IMO. The 2nd Violin Concerto is a somewhat tougher prospect, though the slow movement has a gorgeous main idea. The Naxos disc also has the late Fantasia for Violin & Orchestra, this is a typical late Piston piece and stylistically quite tough.

The Barber Piano Concerto is quite demanding on the soloist (Barber was a pretty good pianist as well as a fine Baritone). Do you the Barber solo piano music, there isn't too much, but the Piano Sonata is one of the great 20th Century Sonatas and is a real challenge for any pianist (I can hardly play a bar of it!)

[teamsaint]

The Barber Violin Concerto is broadcast a handful of times each year on R3. We hardly ever get the Cello or Piano Concertos however (the latter is my favourite of the three). It is a great pity that Piston's 1st Violin Concerto isn't given the exposure the Barber is, as its such an appealing and inventive work.

Suffy, the Cello Concerto gets an outing next week on Live in Concert. (Wednesday I think).

[ahinton]

The Barber Piano Concerto is quite demanding on the soloist (Barber was a pretty good pianist as well as a fine Baritone). Do you the Barber solo piano music, there isn't too much, but the Piano Sonata is one of the great 20th Century Sonatas and is a real challenge for any pianist (I can hardly play a bar of it!)

The Barber is indeed one of the great mid-20th century American piano sonatas and is often spoken and written of as one of a trio of such works from that era, the others being the Copland and the Carter (the three by Sessions being typically overlooked, of course!). I find the Copland's dry-as-dust expression tiresome in the extreme, but the Carter is truly astonishing, especially as it came from a composer whose pianistic skills were hardly a match for those of Barber (yes, he could play and even gave a recital or two in his 'teens but one would hardly describe Carter as a "pianist" per se); a relatively early major work from a composer whose development was almost as slow as Tippett's, it's not merely impressive but a cornerstone of mid-20th century piano repertoire and displays an acute sense of what the instrument can do (and, like the Barber, it's no walk in the park to play!).

[teamsaint]

The Barber is indeed one of the great mid-20th century American piano sonatas and is often spoken and written of as one of a trio of such works from that era, the others being the Copland and the Carter (the three by Sessions being typically overlooked, of course!). I find the Copland's dry-as-dust expression tiresome in the extreme, but the Carter is truly astonishing, especially as it came from a composer whose pianistic skills were hardly a match for those of Barber (yes, he could play and even gave a recital or two in his 'teens but one would hardly describe Carter as a "pianist" per se); a relatively early major work from a composer whose development was almost as slow as Tippett's, it's not merely impressive but a cornerstone of mid-20th century piano repertoire and displays an acute sense of what the instrument can do (and, like the Barber, it's no walk in the park to play!).

Thanks for that interesting information, AH.
The Carter (Edit) CONCERTO is available to listen on youtube, performed by Ursula Oppens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AraF1IQouOE

[ahinton]

Thanks for that interesting information, AH.
The Carter is available to listen on youtube, performed by Ursula Oppens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AraF1IQouOE

That URL is for Carter's Piano CONCERTO! There are several for his Piano Sonata on YouTube but one played by OPpens begins at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB2YiBL8fxI

You can navigate to others to find her performance of the remainder of the work.

[teamsaint]

That URL is for Carter's Piano CONCERTO! There are several for his Piano Sonata on YouTube but one played by OPpens begins at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB2YiBL8fxI

You can navigate to others to find her performance of the remainder of the work.

just checking everyone was awake !! Actually, I was looking at the start of Suffy's post where he mentions the Barber Concerto.......speed reading while trying to work ....multi tasking successfully is a myth!!
Hey ho, I have heard half of the Concerto now, so I am half an experience up, and the Sonata still to look forward to !

Edit, and apologies to anybody who was disappointed by my link.

[Pabmusic]

...he Barber Piano Concerto is quite demanding on the soloist (Barber was a pretty good pianist as well as a fine Baritone). Do you the Barber solo piano music, there isn't too much, but the Piano Sonata is one of the great 20th Century Sonatas and is a real challenge for any pianist (I can hardly play a bar of it!)

This site has a live performance of the Barber by John Browning and the NYPO conducted by Josef Krips. There's also a (quite lengthy) interview with Samuel Barber and John Browning:

http://metrognomemusic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/josef-krips-and-new-york-philharmonic.html

[Suffolkcoastal]

I'm quite fond of the Copland Piano Music, though the Fantasy is admittedly exceptionally demanding for both listener & performer. With the Copland Sonata it depends how it is played, to play it coldly without emotion can make the work sound dull. The Carter Sonata really is a fine work and of course there is the later Night Fantasies, another fascinating work. The Sessions sonatas are always overlooked, few pianists attempt them as they are so demanding, there can hardly be any more aggressive, angry and dynamic sonatas than the Third.

Thanks for the link on the Barber Concerto Pabmusic, I'll have a listen later. I can get my fingers round some of the slow movement (I have the full score), but the finale looks a terrifying prospect for any pianist.

While we are on American composer pianists, there is of course the famous recording of Stravinsky conducting Les Noces with Barber, Copland, Foss and Sessions as the four pianists.

Must be time to get on to chamber music next!

[Nick Armstrong]

This site has a live performance of the Barber by John Browning and the NYPO conducted by Josef Krips. There's also a (quite lengthy) interview with Samuel Barber and John Browning:

http://metrognomemusic.blogspot.co.u...lharmonic.html

What does one click on to hear it?

[Pabmusic]

What does one click on to hear it?

Go to the first message, where you'll find a URL for a Mediafire link. Copy that into your browser and open it. There will be two files. Download them both. They will be Flac format files, so you'll have to open them (I use a Mac and have no difficulty with XLD, which is easily available and free, but there are many ways to convert Flac to mp4 that you can then keep in iTunes, or whatever). Good luck - it is worth the hassle. The blog has many really good live concert recordings, mainly American, including two of Boult conducting the Boston SO, and several of Horenstein.

[Nick Armstrong]

Go to the first message, where you'll find a URL for a Mediafire link. Copy that into your browser and open it. There will be two files. Download them both. They will be Flac format files, so you'll have to open them (I use a Mac and have no difficulty with XLD, which is easily available and free, but there are many ways to convert Flac to mp4 that you can then keep in iTunes, or whatever). Good luck - it is worth the hassle. The blog has many really good live concert recordings, mainly American, including two of Boult conducting the Boston SO.

Ah yes. Mac user here too, will experiment

Thanks

[Beef Oven]

The Robert Browning Overture is new to me. Now into the sympony.