Day 17

Hello! One video and no PDF’s today :)

Downloads:
Nothing

Today’s Recommended Listening:

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Cello Concerto: I. Allegro moderato

(Cello + Orchestra)

Yo-Yo Ma / Baltimore Symphony (David Zinman conducting)
[Spotify] - 12 minutes

This album is near and dear to my heart. I purchased this CD right before heading to France with Denver Young Artists’ Orchestra before my sophomore year of high school. I’d never heard the piece but we had played the Adagio for Strings that year and I was obsessed. I have fond memories of staring out the bus window listening to this piece on my dark blue Discman.

To oversimplify, Barber was the third great American classical composer after Charles Ives and Aaron Copland. He is considered a modernist, so think of The Great Gatsby but in musical format ;) Barber wasn’t very prolific - he published less than 40 works, and more than half are for voice & piano - but every single one is incredible.

The cello concerto, written when he was 35, is no exception. It was premiered by Raya Garbousova, backed up by the Boston Symphony, and received numerous composition awards. It pushes the boundaries of what is possible with the instrument and shows every conceivable type of virtuosity in all ranges of the instrument. The meters are complex, the orchestral writing is lush, and the piece is well-suited for the cello.

What I love about this piece is how clearly the cello and orchestra interact. Sometimes they’re conversing as equals, sometimes the orchestra is trying to interrupt or disrupt the cello, sometimes the cello is murmuring agreement with the orchestra… such an imaginative and compelling piece.

Yo-Yo Ma has recorded a number of major American works that followed Barber, including works by Richard Danielpour, Christopher Rouse, John Corigliano, and Philip Glass (just to name a few). Of these, an often-overlooked recording is the filmscore to Philip Glass’ Naqoyqatsi, the third in a series of three documentaries Glass scored (following Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi).

What to explore next:

1. Barber | Adagio for Strings
[Ormandy / Philadelphia]
2. Barber | Violin Concerto - Movement III specifically
[Hilary Hahn with Zinman / Baltimore - she recorded this in 1 take at age 17].
3. Philip Glass | Naqoyqatsi - Filmscore
[Yo-Yo Ma]

See you tomorrow!
—Eric