Marin Alsop’s excellent
Barber series for Naxos continues with
this interesting mixed programme. She
included the First Essay, Op. 12 on
an earlier volume that also featured
both of Barber’s symphonies (Naxos 8.559024)
and now completes the set. Barber’s
use of the term "Essay" is
most apposite for all three works seem
to me to enshrine the principle of saying
what you have to say quickly and economically.
The Second Essay was written in 1942,
four years after the First. It’s a compressed,
pithy piece which combines powerful
music with the more lyrical side of
Barber in an amazingly short time span.
Alsop does it very well. She is equally
sure-footed in the Third Essay. This
is a late work, written for Eugene Ormandy
and the Philadelphia orchestra in 1976.
It’s a tougher, terser proposition than
the previous Essays and I don’t find
it as approachable but I’m sure that’s
my fault.
There’s a Philadelphia
connection with the Toccata Festiva
also. It was written in 1960 to a commission
to inaugurate a new organ in the city’s
Academy of Music. This is not one of
Barber’s better-known works, no doubt
due to the forces involved and also
possibly because it’s something of a
pièce d’occasion. I was
delighted to hear Simon Preston play
it during the Last Night of the Proms
to show off the refurbished Royal Albert
Hall organ. This is the only time I’ve
heard the work ‘live’. Actually, the
title is something of a misnomer, suggesting
as it does a brilliant showpiece. In
fact although the work begins in such
a vein, as early as 1’13" in this
performance the music relaxes into a
rather subdued lyrical episode that
lasts until 4’48" and there are
more quiet sections later on. It seems
to me that Barber may have been more
interested in exploring sonorities in
the work than in writing a crowd-pleasing
display piece. (I think I’m right in
saying that he specified the organ registrations
himself.) For all that, it’s a virtuoso
test for both soloist and orchestra.
Thomas Trotter gives a commanding performance
and the many technical difficulties
clearly hold no terrors for him. The
piece contains a fearsome cadenza to
be played on pedals alone. I’m somewhat
surprised by the annotator’s comment
that this is "a feat which baffles
even the most accomplished of performers."
Certainly Trotter sounds anything but
baffled.
This strikes me as
a fine performance. However, there’s
a bit of a drawback in that the recording
was made in a very different acoustic
from the remainder of the programme.
Paisley Abbey is a much more resonant
building than the Henry Wood Hall and
the sound is more distant. This is a
pity for not all detail registers with
crystal clarity. As it happens there
is at least one alternative, a LINN
recording made in 2000 by Dame Gillian
Weir with the English Chamber orchestra
under Raymond Leppard. Here, working
in what I imagine is a smaller building,
the chapel of Tonbridge School, Kent,
the engineers have balanced the performers
much more closely, but not aggressively
so. The result is pretty spectacular
and Barber’s sonorities and, in particular,
his powerful register with immense power.
This LINN recording (CKD 160) is more
specialist as the programme consists
entirely of concertante organ works
including the Poulenc concerto. However,
anyone who wishes to explore this Barber
piece further having heard Trotter’s
fine account of it should investigate
the artistically and sonically excellent
LINN version.
Most purchasers will
be attracted especially by Knoxville,
I suspect. Fortunately this Naxos performance
is a winner. I’d not encountered the
Canadian soprano. Karina Gauvin, before
but on this evidence she’s a pretty
impressive performer. She faces formidable
competition, including the original
interpreter of the piece, Eleanor Steber
(on Sony, a version I suspect is no
longer available). There’s also the
great Leontyne Price on BMG/RCA and
Dawn Upshaw on Nonesuch. Each of these
three singers gives a memorable account
of Barber’s highly atmospheric score.
Price, I think, does most with the words.
Upshaw is very much the Southern girl
next door. Steber may strike some as
being a bit too formal but hers is a
considerable interpretation nonetheless.
For me Gauvin offers perhaps the most
in Southern sultriness. Hers by the
way is easily the most spacious of these
recordings, coming in at 16’52",
followed by Price at 16’18" with
the other two well under 16 minutes.
Gauvin sings with beautiful tone, nothing
is forced. She excels in the gentle,
innocent moments in which this score
abounds but when Barber demands vocal
power she is suitably equipped. Her
diction is superb (though Naxos commendably
provide the full text). She is sensitively
supported by Marin Alsop. This version
is one to rank among the very finest
and I enjoyed it greatly. I also admired
the great musicianship behind the performance.
This, then, is a worthy
successor to Marin Alsop’s previous
Barber discs. All four performances
are very fine indeed, with that of Knoxville
a particularly conspicuous success.
I also commend Naxos for their enterprise
in including the neglected Toccata.
This issue will be a ‘must’ for admirers
of Barber’s music and at the advantageous
Naxos price it is well worth exploring
by general collectors.
Strongly recommended.
John Quinn
see also reviews
by Rob
Barnett and Terry
Barfoot
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Marin
Alsop