Barber Songs
A wonderful reminder of Barber’s skill as a songwriter, in ideal performances
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Samuel Barber
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 1/2008
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 62
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA67528
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
There's Nae Lark |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
(The) Beggar's song |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
In the dark pinewood |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
(3) Songs, Movement: No. 1, The Daisies (wds. Stephens) |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
(3) Songs, Movement: No. 2, With Rue my Heart is Laden (wds. Housman) |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
(3) Songs, Movement: No. 3, Bessie Bobtail (wds. Stephens) |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
(10) Hermit Songs |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
(3) Songs |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
Mélodies passagères |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
(4) Songs, Movement: No. 3, Sure on this shining night (wds. Agee) |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
(4) Songs, Movement: No. 4, Nocturne (wds. Prokosch) |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
Dover Beach |
Samuel Barber, Composer
Aronowitz Ensemble Gerald Finley, Baritone Julius Drake, Piano Samuel Barber, Composer |
Author: Peter Dickinson
Performances of this calibre emphasise Barber’s stature in the mainstream of 20th-century song composers. The tradition is Anglo-American and “There’s nae lark”, written when Barber was 16 to a poem by Swinburne in imitation Scots, could even be by Quilter. But Barber soon gets into his stride and by the time he reached his Three Songs, Op†10, there’s a rare kind of intensity as impressive as anything on this CD. The poems are from James Joyce’s Chamber Music; Barber set a few more, such as “In the dark pinewood” included here; but what a tragedy he never set the whole cycle that could have been an American Winterreise. The Hermit Songs, fey and whimsically amusing, are probably the best-known set.
The immediate comparison is with the Gramophone Award-winning Thomas Hampson, who is accompanied by John Browning, a close friend and colleague of Barber’s. Finley’s voice is lower – he transposes many of the songs – and richer, with nothing to fear alongside Hampson, who is anyway on a two-CD set. Mostly I prefer Finley, and the recording is warmer.
“Sure on the shining night” is vintage Barber, and Finley and Drake are impeccable (as are the Aronowitz Quartet in Dover Beach). The French songs, to poems by Rilke, who did write in French, have less character, but the single songs are all gems. This is another outstanding Hyperion release that does credit to Barber in what will soon be a run-up to his centenary.
The immediate comparison is with the Gramophone Award-winning Thomas Hampson, who is accompanied by John Browning, a close friend and colleague of Barber’s. Finley’s voice is lower – he transposes many of the songs – and richer, with nothing to fear alongside Hampson, who is anyway on a two-CD set. Mostly I prefer Finley, and the recording is warmer.
“Sure on the shining night” is vintage Barber, and Finley and Drake are impeccable (as are the Aronowitz Quartet in Dover Beach). The French songs, to poems by Rilke, who did write in French, have less character, but the single songs are all gems. This is another outstanding Hyperion release that does credit to Barber in what will soon be a run-up to his centenary.
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