Barber: Cello Concerto / Medea Suite / Adagio For Strings

Description

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)Orchestral Music Volume 2 The years immediately following the end of World War Twosaw a consolidation of the success that Samuel Barber had encountered in theconcert hall with his Symphony No.1 and Essay for Orchestra (Naxos8.559024). While the romantic and expressive traits that inform these worksremained at the heart of his idiom, the Cello Concerto and Medeaare marked by an increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra, as well as agreater harmonic stringency and emotional variety. The Cello Concerto was written for Raya Garbousova.The short score was completed in November 1945, coinciding with Barber'sdischarge from the air force, with orchestration taking until December. Thepremiere, by Garbousova, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Sergey Koussevitzky,took place on 5. April, 1946. Despite initial success, and the receipt of theFifth Annual Award of the Music Critics Circle of New York, the concerto hasestablished itself only at the margins of the repertoire. Barber revised the scoreprior to his recording with Zara Nelsova in 1950, and made minor changesthereafter. The opening movement, Allegro moderato, begins withan abrupt gesture on strings. An understated melodic complex, rather than atheme as such, now unfolds across the orchestra and the soloist joins in almostmatter of factly. Only belatedly is the theme stated as a coherent entity. Aslower version of the theme becomes a musing soliloquy for the soloist, but thecentral development quickly emerges as an incisive orchestral tutti. Thesoloist responds with brusque pizzicati, and a resumption of the initial mood, broadeningas before into the theme's more expressive version. The scene is set for alengthy cadenza, subjecting the theme's constituent elements to the full panoplyof cello techniques. The orchestra re-emerges, growing restive in its response,and leading to an agitated coda. The central movement, Andante sostenuto, opens witha plaintive siciliana melody on the oboe, subtly derived from that of the firstmovement and intertwined with the soloist's barcarolle-like motion. A harmonic shiftreminiscent of Vaughan Williams brings a more expressively-wroughtcontinuation, before the initial tonality and melody are restored. Theorchestra effects a brief but poignant climax, from where the movement sinksinto ominous reverie. The finale, Molto allegro e appassionato, opens withanother abrupt tutti gesture, before the soloist leads the way with a vauntingmelody, inviting vigorous repartee with the orchestra. An inward second theme involveseloquent passage-work for the soloist, building up dramatically in theorchestra. A short solo passage leads to an atmospheric episode, lightly scoredin the orchestra's upper reaches and featuring cello harmonics. The initialmomentum is now restored, before the second theme returns in sombre hues toeffect the work's expressive climax. A further brief cadenza, follows, afterwhich soloist and orchestra steer th