Samuel BARBER (1910-1981)
An American Romantic
Twelfth Night, Op. 42, No. 1 (1968) [3:56]
To be sung on the water, Op. 42, No. 2 (1968) [3:19]
The virgin martyrs, Op 8, No. 1 (1935) [4:16]
Let down the bars, O death Op. 8, No. 2 (1936) [2:17]
Reincarnations, Op. 16 (1937-1940) [10:56]
A stopwatch and an ordnance map, Op. 15 (1940) [6:24]
Sure on this shining night, Op. 13, No. 3 (c. 1968) [2:34]
Agnus Dei, Op. 11 (1938/1967) [8:55]
The Lovers, Op. 43 (1971) (version for chamber chorus and orchestra
(2011) by Robert Kyr (b. 1952))* [34:01]
Easter Chorale, Op. 40 (1965) (version for chamber chorus and
orchestra (2011) by Robert Kyr) [3:05]
*David Farwig (baritone)
Conspirare Company of Voices
*Chamber Orchestra/Craig Hella Johnson
rec. September 2011, Sauder Concert Hall, Goshen College, Indiana.
DSD
English texts and French and German translations included
HARMONIA MUNDI HMU 807522 [79:44]
This SACD contains several arrangements of music by Barber and,
oddly, it’s the ones by the composer himself that I find least
successful. As I’ve commented before in these pages, Barber’s
vocal arrangement of his celebrated Adagio for Strings as Agnus Dei
doesn’t really work. One key reason is that the tessitura sometimes
stretches the voices, especially the sopranos, uncomfortably. The members of
Conspirare are equal to its challenges but I prefer to hear the music in
either of its original string versions. Sure on this shining night is
my favourite Barber song and a great one. Indeed, I’ll go further and
say that it’s one of the great art songs by any twentieth century
composer. However I don’t really like Barber’s arrangement of it
for SATB choir. It’s much better when sung by a single voice.
Furthermore, in the solo version Barber lets the piano have the last word;
in the choral version for some reason he decided also to involve the singers
at the end. However, if you don’t share my reservations about these
arrangements then be assured both performances are excellent.
The other short vocal pieces also come off very well though once or
twice - in To be sung on the water, for example - the words
were not always ideally clear, even when I was following the texts in the
booklet. This seemed to be more of an issue with the ladies’ voices
and so it cropped up again in The virgin martyrs, which is scored
only for female voices. However, that’s not a huge flaw when set
against some very good, well blended and fine-toned singing overall.
The chief interest in this release lies in the arrangements by
Robert Kyr of two of Barber’s scores, arrangements which were made for
and at the request of Craig Hella Johnson for Conspirare. One of these,
Easter Chorale, is a fairly short but nonetheless effective piece but
the arrangement of The Lovers involves a much more substantial work.
The Lovers is a late work and, as Robert Kyr comments in a note, it
derives from a difficult time in Barber’s life. Not only was he trying
to recover from the acute disappointment of the failure of his opera
Antony and Cleopatra but also his long relationship with Giancarlo
Menotti was deteriorating. For The Lovers, which was commissioned for
the Philadelphia Orchestra, Barber turned to the poetry of the Chilean,
Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), choosing nine poems from Neruda’s 1924
collection Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair. These are set
in an English translation by Christopher Logue and W. S. Merwin. The
Lovers is scored for baritone solo, SATB choir and a substantial
orchestra. Collectors may know the work from the live recording made in 1991
by the late Andrew Schenck with Dale Duesing and the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and Chorus (Koch International 37125-2) though I’m not sure
that recording is still available; I suspect it isn’t. Obviously,
Schenck used Barber’s original scoring.
In making his arrangement Robert Kyr has left the vocal parts
completely unaltered. However, he’s reduced the very full
orchestration substantially and his scoring calls for just 15 players -
single wind, brass and strings plus percussion, harp and piano/celesta. This
arrangement works exceptionally well. The choral forces are also reduced -
there are some three dozen singers in Conspirare, far fewer than the Chicago
Symphony Chorus musters - and the end result is a much more intimate piece
with far greater clarity in the textures. That serves Barber’s music
and Neruda’s sensual, not to say erotic, texts very well. The Margaret
Hillis-trained Chicago choir sings very well, as you’d expect, but not
only is theirs a much fuller sound but also they seem to me more
mature-sounding and the fresher, leaner tone of the professional members of
Conspirare suits rather better the emotions expressed by the young Neruda.
Thus, for example, in the third poem, ‘In the hot depth of this
summer’, I find the Chicago ladies sing with rather too much vibrato;
as a result it’s not easy to pick out the words.
The work calls for a baritone soloist, who sings three of the poems.
The soloist on this new recording, David Farwig, is a member of Conspirare
and he sings very well. He has a fairly light voice and he sings with
admirable clarity. His third solo, ‘Tonight I can write’ is
particularly effective. However, it has to be said that the greater
experience of Dale Duesing shows and though Farwig is by no means put in the
shade he’s not as characterful as Duesing. In the Chicago recording
Duesing is on particularly fine form in ‘Tonight I can write’
and he has the benefit of the rich and expansive Chicago Symphony to
accompany him. Though in many ways I prefer the tautness and clarity of the
Kyr arrangement there are bound to be trade-offs and there’s no
denying, for example, that the last number, ‘Cemetery of kisses’
is a Big Statement in the Chicago performance and one misses the rhetorical
power in the slimmer scoring.
The Lovers is a considerable score and well worth hearing. Robert Kyr’s
arrangement doesn’t supplant the original - such was not the intention
- but the smaller forces required may encourage more performances and I’m
completely convinced by it. In fact you could say that we now have two works
for the price of one!
Performances throughout the programme are exemplary, the recorded
sound is excellent - I listened in conventional CD format - and the
documentation, which is in English, French and German is first class and
beautifully laid out. This is an important disc for all devotees of Samuel
Barber’s music.
John Quinn
An important disc for all devotees of Samuel Barber’s music.