Mediocre Barber Collection
J. Rich | 10/07/2009
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Unlike the other reviewer, the order of the tracks have no bearing on how well these works are performed to me. They're either solid performances or they're not. That said, this collection isn't that great. First of all, you have Michael Tilson Thomas performing "Adagio for Strings" with the London Symphony Orchestra. Let me say that Tilson Thomas isn't one of my favorite conductors and while it's hard to mess up a piece like "Adagio," he does. He has no feeling for Barber's music and neither do the LSO. There's no passionate playing here. I never heard such a dry and bland performance until I've listened to Tilson Thomas' performance.
The other piece that doesn't sit well with me is "Knoxville: Summer of 1915," which in the wrong hands and more importantly voice, the piece fails to convince anyone. Barbara Hendricks, while a great singer, ruins this performance. Her vibrato and overall approach to this composition is wrong-headed. She certainly turns in a bad performance here.
The "Violin Concerto" conducted here by Leonard Statkin and played by Elmar Oliveira is one of the worst I've heard. Oliveira cannot touch Stern, Bell, or Hahn in this concerto. "School For Scandal" is played fine as are the other pieces which Slatkin conducts, but this performance of the concerto is just lifeless. There's no kind of energy from either Slatkin or Oliveira.
Overall, this is a disappointing disc. The only saving grace for this recording are the other shorter orchestral works conducted by Slatkin.
For some more spirited Barber recordings, try the following:
Barber: Orchestral Works Vol. 1 - School for Scandal/Symphonies 1 & 2
Samuel Barber: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2
Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14; Souvenirs (Ballet Suite), Op. 28; Serenade for Strings, Op. 1; Music for a Scene from Shelley, Op. 7
Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915
Samuel Barber: Piano Concerto; Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Samuel Barber: Capricorn Concerto; A Hand of Bridge; Intermezzo from Vanessa
Barber: Violin Concerto; Cello Concerto; Piano Concerto
Barber, Walton: Violin Concertos; Bloch: Baal Shem
Samuel Barber / Thomas Schippers
Barber: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2; The School for Scandal Overture; Adagio for Strings"