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I have always thought, ever since its first release, that Elmar Oliveira's Barber Violin Concerto has woven a magical spell unlike any other commercial recording.
Arkivmusic.com has it on sale, as long as quantities last, for $6.99.
This is not a just-in-time cloned CDR; it is a factory pressed EMI CD.
$9.98 off list!
Tarry not!
The usual tongue-in-cheek nonsense about Arkivmusic.com's funding my slot in the Federal Witness Protection Program goes double for this mind-bending, industry-destroying bargain.
Immer essen,
JM
Follow Ups:
this Oliveira Barber concerto a few years ago, I got it and spent some time comparing it to the Hilary Hahn recording. Both are terrific. (I agree that the Oliveira slow movement is particularly memorable.) My take is that Oliveira emphasizes the polyphonic lines while Hahn and Wolff emphasize the integrated sound world in a very poetic way.
It's always terrific to hear great performers cast their different slants on a piece. I highly recommend AA readers spend time with both recordings. You can't use your time better.
BTW, since that thread on recent compositions is open right now, I want to highlight the fact that Hahn pairs the Barber with a concerto from Edgar Meyer which to my mind is among the best compositions I've heard from the late 20th century.
Two inspired recordings.
Thank heavens for Arkivmusic.com!!!
I have the same performance but it is on EMI Classics double Forte (2 cd's)
which also includes chamber works like the Cello Sonata
It is a great cd, perfect music, perfect audio.
Listening to it this morning on my new speakers I was bowled over.
Wife does not understand why I keep buying dozens of new and used CDs every month when we have two streaming services now piped into our listening room.
But who knows for how long, and then what?
A couple thousand classical CDs and about 3000 LPs but who's counting?
Link below:
> Wife does not understand why I keep buying dozens of new and used CDs
> every month when we have two streaming services now piped into our
> listening room.
> But who knows for how long, and then what?
I agree and for years, I've been tracking and buying what I wamted to have.
my blog: http://carsmusicandnature.blogspot.com/
nt
I agree that Oliveira/Slatkin is a great performance of the Barber, but I prefer Shaham/Previn/LSO. And there is a really fine performance to be found on youtube with Rachel Barton Pine and a very good Brazilian orchestra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iVLucsIBSE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBAFxn4zdCc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxmcJYBKFmM
This is the best version I've ever run across.
Gluzman is rapidly becoming one of my very favorite fiddlers and this SACD is a great one.
Slatkin does Hanson no favors in the Symphony, and since I enjoy the Hanson Symphony, I rarely listen to this LP. I kinda like Anne Akiko Meyers with the Royal Philharmonic for the VC, but I guess I ought to go back and listen to Oliviera.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
I think that Elmar's slow movement of the Vln Cto is one of the most beautiful violin recordings of the 20th century.
Not up on YouTube, it seems... .
jm
You get my point.In any case, the slow mov't to his Piano Concerto ain't bad either.
The guy knew how to write a melody. Y'all know his Nocturne for Solo Piano?
Edits: 08/24/14 08/24/14
. . . although once these quotes become famous, they get attributed to everybody! ;-)
(In the link below, expand the story and check out the fourth paragraph from the bottom for the BBC Music Magazine attribution.)
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Three of his songs, orchestrated, and sung by Roberta Alexander.
Of the three, "Nocturne" and (of course) "Sure on this Shining Night" are miniature gems.
I'd still go with Nonesuch's Dawn Upshaw for "Knoxville Summer of 1915" though, Alexander's voice is too "operatic" for me.
She has two discs of Barber songs on the Etcetera label, both of which are well-sung. But IMO Dawn Upshaw is not a winner in Knoxville. I'd go for Leontyne Price or Eleanor Steber any day...
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OK, maybe Steber MIGHT have done a Lohengrin or some such, but certainly not a Ring Cycle and certainly NOT Brunhilde.
Mozart and Strause?
Yep.
Listening to Steber in 'Knoxville' right now, and she certainly does NOT sound like Brunhilde on a porch in TN. ;-)
That's a great Knoxville: Summer of 1915, one of the greatest (imo) 20th century American pieces, and a work that she commissioned and premiered. Steber had a luscious voice, but apparently alcoholism and personal problems took a toll, and her vocal prime did not last long. Otherwise, I suspect she would have been very successful with Wagner. You are right about her Lohengrin at Bayreuth, which I don't own.
memories of home life through the eyes of a less than sophisticated young girl, replete with Malapropisms, or mis-used words.
I'm aware, however, that Barber loved Steber's voice.
"Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24, is a 1947 work for voice and orchestra by Samuel Barber, with text from a 1938 short prose piece by James Agee. The work was commissioned by soprano Eleanor Steber, who premiered it in 1948 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky."
Link below:
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The CD above is one where Operatic Voices just don't seem to fit.
Love all of the singers on this CD but CAN NOT LISTEN TO IT!
No, but neither Steber not Price ever sang Brunnhilde. And Barber wrote this pice for Steber-- he knew what he was doing.
"Now is the night one blue dew, my father has drained, he has coiled the hose...." --James Agee, from Knoxville, Summer of 1915.
Thanks.
one of the most beautiful pieces of 20th century music, imo. I heard Jaime Laredo perform the concerto with the Chicago Symphony back in my student days (ed. - with Slatkin conducting, as a matter of fact). What a gorgeous tone he had. I'll have to check out Mr. Oliveira, whom I've heard too. Wasn't he in Maine for the summer for many years?
Edits: 08/23/14
Seems he payed it often, even for Barber himself, but sadly never recorded it.
Link below:
I have to agree with Amphissa that Slatkin is usually not the most dynamic guy on the podium, but sometimes he has his moments.
More violin babes!This is an outstanding set, by the way.
Edits: 08/24/14
Or $2.74 used.
Link below:
I kinda like Hilary Hahn/Saint Paul Chamber Orch. version myself.
Might be worth it to have both, at those price.
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