# Help me build a Barber collection - recording recommendations?



## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

Samuel Barber is one of my favorite composers, but for some reason, his spot on my American Composers shelf is (_gasp!_) nearly empty. I don't even have a CD of the Violin Concerto (!), which is a top favorite piece for me; the version I listen to all the time (on youtube) is Gil Shaham, w/ David Robertson & the BBC. This is a joy to listen to _and_ watch; Shaham clearly loves this music & it shows. Does anyone do this concerto better than Shaham does?
I would really appreciate hearing about your recording recommendations of any of your favorite Barber pieces ~
Thanks in advance! :tiphat:


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

Laurie,
I would definitely include this disc in your Barber collection:


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

This is some of my Barber collection -- *Knoxville Summer 1915 *is a must, Steber is probably the best but Leontyne Price, Roberta Alexander or Dawn Upshaw are fantastic. The RCA disc with Takezawa playing the Violin Concerto is superb I also have a disc with Elmar Oliveira playing this -- both are with Slatkin conducting. As Barber was essentially a vocal composer the collection should reflect this with discs of his songs. The two-disc set with Hampson, etc. below is probably the best -- The *Hermit Songs* from this cd is brilliant. His *Summer Music for wind quintet* (Marlboro Festival cd) is without a doubt a masterpiece as is of course, the somewhat overplayed *Adagio for Strings*. Don't forget the intense *Piano Concerto* or the 
*Essays for Orchestra.* The symphonies are OK but I like the Essays more. Another absolutely wonderful piece is the *Overture to the School for Scandal. For s*olo piano his * Excursions *is justifiably played often.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

cougarjuno said:


> This is some of my Barber collection -- *Knoxville Summer 1915 *is a must, Steber is probably the best but Leontyne Price, Roberta Alexander or Dawn Upshaw are fantastic.











IMHO, this one goes to the front of the class.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

You have to have the symphonies:








There are other recordings, but none better than this great orchestra and conductor.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

laurie said:


> Samuel Barber is one of my favorite composers, but for some reason, his spot on my American Composers shelf is (_gasp!_) nearly empty. I don't even have a CD of the Violin Concerto (!), which is a top favorite piece for me; the version I listen to all the time (on youtube) is Gil Shaham, w/ David Robertson & the BBC. This is a joy to listen to _and_ watch; Shaham clearly loves this music & it shows. Does anyone do this concerto better than Shaham does?
> I would really appreciate hearing about your recording recommendations of any of your favorite Barber pieces ~
> Thanks in advance! :tiphat:


I'm partial to Vadim Gluzman on BIS. The Joshua Bell recording is also quite good


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

​


> Knoxville Summer 1915 is a must, Steber is probably the best


I am with cougarjuno on this one.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I consider Barber one of my favorites. Here are the recordings I have and really like:

Knoxville - Dawn Upshaw
Symphony 1 - St Louis/Slatkin
Violin Cto - Oliveira
Adagio - Marriner, conducting
Essays, School for Scandal, etc - St Louis/Slatkin, Zinman is good too but I like the Slatkin recording a touch more


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## Boston Charlie (Dec 6, 2017)

All contributions are good selections. As an old Barber fan, my favorites are from the old Columbia and RCA budget lines that I first purchased in the 1980s: "Knoxville: Summer of 1915" by Leontyne Price or Eleanor Stebber; "Dover Beach" by Dietrich Fischer-Diskau and the Julliard SQ; "Vanessa" by Dimitri Mitropoulos, Stebber, Resnik, Elias, Tozzi and company; the Violin Concerto by Stern/Bernstein; the Piano Sonata by Horowitz. A curious compilation I purchased some years ago was a Barber collection on the "Pearl" label that featured the "premier" recordings with some really old really old luminary classical artists of the past that included Bruno Walter, a young Eugene Ormandy, Toscanini and Samuel Barber himself singing his own "Dover Beach" in, probably, the only time I've known a great composer to sing on record, and Barber is quite good at it. 

Barber's "Knoxville: Summer of 1915" is one of my very favorite pieces of classical music bar none. If I had to list my top ten it would certainly be there. Along with the Beethoven symphonies, Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll" and Britten's "Serenade for tenor, Horn and Strings", I could listen to "Knoxville" all day.

Of all important American composers, Barber is perhaps the least American, musically. Except for "Knoxville" he pretty much avoided "Americana" as in Copland's "Appalachian Spring" and "Rodeo" or Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite" and he certainly wasn't up to doing anything along the lines of Ives or Cowell. In this regard, Barber's idiom can be described as Neo-Romantic, melodic and composed after European models ("Vanessa" is set in some "Northern European Country"). Having composed a relatively small body of music that broke no new musical ground, Barber is still a very fine composer whose music has survived the test of time.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Knoxville is his masterpiece imo (I prefer Upshaw like several others in this thread).

Not mentioned yet (I think) is his string quartet, which includes the original version of what later became the Adagio for strings.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Oh, BTW, I would check out the choral work "Sure on This Shining Night" by Mr. Barber. I don't have a recording that I really recommend, but the work itself is pure Barber gold.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Get the John Browning/Szell recording of the Piano Concerto. It sizzles!!


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Marin Alsop did six CDs of Barber's orchestral music for Naxos. Get them, you're sorted!


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Of course, if you're a true Sam Barber fan, you won't ever want to settle for a single version (interpretation) of any of his works. Thus you'll seek out the alternate versions. By the way, Barber remains a favorite of mine.

I must of course recommend a must have disc: Deutsche Grammophon ‎- 439 886-2









It features _both_ the Barber _and_ the Korngold violin concerti. Extraordinary performances! Great stuff!

You can get an inkling of what's available on disc by Barber if you check out the listing at Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/11696-Samuel-Barber?layout=big

For me, a perfect symphony concert might consist of the Barber Overture "School for Scandal", followed by the Symphony No. 1, and then, after intermission, a performance of the Violin Concerto. Hopefully there will be an encore, one of the Essays, perhaps.

Best wishes on your pursuit of this great American composer's music.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Robert Pickett said:


> Marin Alsop did six CDs of Barber's orchestral music for Naxos. Get them, you're sorted!


This is where I have started with Barber and will be building from there


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

A great choir performing more great Barber choral music. A very good disc to fill in and round off the collection once you've got most of the recommendations above.


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

mbhaub said:


> You have to have the symphonies:
> View attachment 100399
> 
> 
> There are other recordings, but none better than this great orchestra and conductor.


I like the earlier issue. No second symphony or Adagio but a great Amy Beach Gaelic for the win.










No collection of Barber is complete without Schippers' recording.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

agree this is a Barber classic


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Barber's "Toccata Festiva" for organ is a relatively unknown gem often linked in recordings to other organ work and not his own.

One should not overlook the classic coupling of his three concertos ...


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The Marin Alsop box on Naxos is a inexpensive way to pick up a comprehensive collection.
Details here: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=511625


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the piano sonata (op. 26). It's one of my favorite Barber works.


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## Robert Gamble (Dec 18, 2016)

Lurking here... I have a few Adagio for Strings but nothing else. Stuffing my Google Play library with a few of these...


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## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

larold said:


> Barber's "Toccata Festiva" for organ is a relatively unknown gem often linked in recordings to other organ work and not his own.
> 
> One should not overlook the classic coupling of his three concertos ...
> View attachment 100428


Well, I guess I won't be adding _this _one to my collection ~ the only copy that I found (amazon) cost *$96* !


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I'd add the definitive recording of Barber's piano concerto op 38 to your collection.

Played by the pianist it was commissioned for.


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## R3PL4Y (Jan 21, 2016)

The violin concerto with Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, and the NY Philharmonic is a favorite of mine.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

The Cello Concerto and Cello Sonata + Adagio for strings, with Kirshbaum/Saraste, on a Virgin CD.

The most treasured Barber CD in my collection.

For context, I´ve also got the Cello Concerto with Nelsova/Barber, Warner/Alsop, Kalmer/Gerhardt, and Ma/Zinman, plus two other recordings of the cello sonata. None I´ve heard beats Kirschbaum in these great works.


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