BARBER Vanessa

wswebmaster on November 24, 2018

BARBER Vanessa • Gil Rose, cond; Ellen Chickering (Vanessa); Andrea Matthews (Erika); Ray Bauwens (Anatol) et al; National SO of Ukraine • NAXOS 8.669140-41 (2 CDs: 120:59) Samuel Barber’s Vanessa is one of the greatest American operas, and a masterpiece of the …

BARBER: Knoxville–Summer of 1915. HARBISON: Mirabai Songs. STRAVINSKY: The Rake’s Progress (excerpt). MENOTTI: The Old Maid and the Thief

wswebmaster on November 24, 2018

BARBER: Knoxville — Summer of 1915. HARBISON: Mirabai Songs.STRAVINSKY: The Rake’s Progress(excerpt). MENOTTI: The Old Maid and the Thief(excerpt). Dawn Upshaw, soprano; David Zinman conducting the Orchestra of St. Lukes. ELEKTRA/NONESUCH 9 79187-2 [DDDJ; 43:12. Produced by Robert Hurwitz. This is an easy disc to review: …

Picks of the Year: 2002

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

Only four items that came my way this year met my own Want List criteria as neglected masterpieces of the past hundred years in superior performances. Samuel Barber’s choral music constitutes some of his best work. Admirers of the American …

Picks of the Year: 2001

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

This year’s choices offer some very economical and efficient means of updating and refining one’s collection of the finest 20th-century music in traditional styles. Leonard Slatkin has proven to be one of the most perceptive and sympathetic conductors of Samuel …

Barber’s Vanessa at the Washington Opera

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

Barber’s Vanessaat the Washington Opera  This past October and November, the Washington Opera presented eight performances of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa, featuring Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in the title role, her only U.S. appearances in 2002. The production, staged by Stephen Lawless, was …

Picks of the Year: 1998

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

There are two worlds of classical music today, and they are increasingly distinct from each other. One is the world of superstar soloists, conductors, and their orchestras, who carry on a saprophagous relationship with a more or less fixed repertoire …

Picks of the Year: 1994

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

This year’s Want List offers a feast for those in search of accessible treasures of twentieth-century music. Two releases highlight the achievements of master composers in media for which they enjoyed a special affinity, while the other three bring to …

Picks of the Year: 1992

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

If I could only pick one recording for the Want List, the Barber disc (reviewed in 15:6) would be it: great performances of two of Barber’s greatest works. I selected the Mercury reissue (reviewed in 15:2 because the Concerti Grossi are two …

AMERICAN WORKS FOR ORGAN AND ORCHESTRA. BARBER: Toccata Festiva. PISTON: Prelude and Allegro. SOWERBY: Concertpiece. COLGRASS: Snow Walker

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

AMERICAN WORKS FOR ORGAN AND ORCHESTRA · David Schrader (org); Carlos Kalmar, cond; Grant Park Orchestra · CEDILLE CDR-90000 063 (65:15) BARBER: Toccata Festiva. PISTON: Prelude and Allegro. SOWERBY: Concertpiece. COLGRASS: Snow Walker This new release is the first recording to feature the Casavant Frères organ built during the early 1990s …