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|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
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7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 A great collection Aug 27, 2007
This is basically a Barber's Greatest Hits without the editing and chopping.
If you want another Toccata Festiva to replace the Alsop/Knoxville 1915 version, than this is definitely what you want to get. I found the other version rather dispassionate. Even if you hate E Power Biggs' guts for Bach organ music, there's no possible way you can begrudge him his role here: he fits the Toccata Festiva like a glove. In fact, he--along with Ormandy/Philly-- brings respect to the work in a way others have not. If you've remained skeptical of the Toccata festiva due to the fact that it can seem episodic and spotty, here's the performance to cure you of that opinion. Thundering orchestra and organ flesh out all the dark coloring of the work. The music makes you think of a dark and magical land.
This CD covers a range of different genres: the Four Excursions for piano (and they sound very bluesy and American), the orchestral Intermezzo From 'Vanessa', the Orchestral Essay No.2, as well as two chamber works; one which interestingly includes a part for baritone (Barber himself sang baritone).
I found both Summer Music and Dover Beach to be great chamber works, skeptical as I am listening to American chamber music. String Quartet? Not so much. The Adagio for Strings (and it is orginially from the quartet) is the same performance as another Barber/Schippers disc on Sony. Either will do if it's the Adagio you want. But there's more to hear than just the Adagio!
So to all you Barberians: get this one!
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Very good Barber overview from the LP era Jan 07, 2007
Sony/BMG reached deep into their vaults to pull together this intriguing Barber overview, and as a bonus brought together an impressive collection of performers. In spite of the fact that these recordings are all about 40 years old, the sound has worn fairly well. The Schippers "Adagio for Strings" remains one of the most intense performances ever recorded. It's nice having the work's original version as the middle movement of the String Quartet available on the same disc, along with Schippers conducting the Intermezzo from "Vanessa." Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the Juilliard String Quartet zero in on the dark depression in the setting of Arnold's "Dover Beach," and André Previn's jazz credentials are put to good use in "Four Excursions." When the "Toccata Festiva" first appeared on LP back in the 1960s, the recording already sounded too close and strident, but Eugene Ormandy and E. Power Biggs find in this celebratory piece touches of angst underplayed by later performers. At mid-price, this disc is very attractive.
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