Search - Samuel Barber, William Schuman, Leonard Bernstein :: Barber: Adagio for Strings/Violin Concerto/Schuman: To Thee Old Cause/In Praise Of Shahn

Barber's Violin Concerto not up to today's standards...

kv581 | Durham, NC United States | 02/26/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"While it's true that this recording of Barber's Violin Concerto helped bring the work into the mainstream repertoire, several recent recordings are even better.The first of these new recordings features Shaham accompanied by Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra. Shaham's performance is brash and VERY extrovert, bringing a sense of excitement to the music. Bell (accompanied by Zinman and the Baltimore) also plays the piece very well in his recording. Unlike Shaham, Bell's introvert performance brings out the more thoughtful and mystical qualities of the music. This approach also works well, and I actually prefer it to the Shaham. Oh, as a side note, Bell won the 1997 Gramophone Concerto Award (not the pointless Grammy, mind you) for this recording.Finally, there is the new Hahn (accompanied by Wolff and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) recording. Her approach is somewhere between the Shaham and the Bell. Generally, her playing is cooler and more aristocratic, which works very well in the first movement. In addition, her third movement is absolutely breathtaking. This is my favorite recording of the Barber Concerto, though others tend to prefer either the Bell or the Shaham for their more extreme interpretations.In any case, these new recordings all surpass the old Stern recording in turns of technical prowess, lyricism, and recording quality. Buy the Stern for solely historic reasons."

Glorious, but a bit sloppy

C. Tate | USA | 05/20/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Bernstein's interpretations here, especially of Barber's Adagio for Strings, are beautiful without being insipid, but I wish he'd had a better hand with the technique of his orchestra. The entrances are sloppy, and intonation in general is uneven; one has the impression that the orchestra was simply not paying much attention to staying TOGETHER. This is a frustrating recording for me: I love it, but I always get an urge to dress down the concert master when I listen to it...."

VERY sloppy playing

S. Hawkins | New York, NY | 02/11/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The music presented on this album is simply glorious. Barber's violin concerto and Adagio for Strings are both brilliantly written works (in many spots deceptively simple). In many respects Bernstein truly understands how the pieces are supposed to sound and feel. You can really sense the growing arc in the Adagio for Strings, as well as the dripping romanticism of the violin concerto.However, it sounds as though he never actually rehearsed the pieces. The violin concerto's third movement is disappointing. Understood, it's an...athletic movement, to say the least, but that does not excuse Bernstein, NYP, and Stern for sounding as though they were sight-reading! In the Adagio for Strings, the climax is so poorly executed that it almost sends the entire piece crashing down - the strings do not function together.It saddens me that Sony released this album, because I don't feel this does justice to Bernstein, Stern, the NYP or to Barber and Schumann. The music is glorious, and the performances sometimes prove it. But as a whole, I don't think it lives up to being what it should be."