Samuel Barber - Knoxville Summer of 1915; etc. (Marin Alsop)

Information

Composer: Samuel Barber

1. Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24
2. Second Essay for Orchestra, Op. 17
3. Third Essay for Orchestra, Op. 47
4. Toccata Festiva, Op. 36

Karina Gauvin, soprano (1)
Thomas Trotter, organ (4)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor

Date: 2004
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559134

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Review

A Knoxville performance to treasure as this essential Barber series reaches a new high point

Karina Gauvin and Marin Alsop take a nostalgic view of Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Theirs is clearly an adult’s bittersweet reminiscence rather than a child’s innocent view. The outer sections sway slowly, the phrases longingly caressed as if both the soprano and the orchestra were loath to let them go. Gauvin sings smoothly, generally emphasising song over text, though she is alive to James Agee’s fragrant imagery and varies the colour of her voice appropriately. What impressed me most about Gauvin’s performance, however – aside from her glossy, creamy tone – is its rhythmic assurance. With deeply expressive playing from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the result is ravishing. Dawn Upshaw and Leontyne Price both characterise more vividly still, but this is one of the finest versions of Knoxville to date.

Alsop’s tautly argued Second Essay is equally satisfying. She wisely resists the temptation to stretch the tempo at climactic moments, creating a strong sense of momentum; one feels swept along by the music’s powerful current. The lean sonority she elicits from the RSNO also suits, though it’s slightly less convincing in the Third Essay, where the lyrical passages need the cinematic lushness one gets in Slatkin’s superbly engineered EMI recording from St Louis.

Actually, Knoxville and the Essays (all recorded in Glasgow’s Henry Wood Hall) pack a nice sonic punch on this disc, too. If only Thomas Trotter’s brilliant execution of the solo organ part in the Toccata Festiva were recorded with greater presence than the acoustic of Paisley Abbey allows. The Toccata may not be top-drawer Barber, but it has its moments, as a Cedille CD with David Schrader demonstrates. Nevertheless, Alsop’s ear-opening Barber series reaches a new high-point with this instalment. Strongly recommended.

-- Andrew Farach-Colton, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 8
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Mar04/Barber1_Alsop.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/May04/Barber_Alsop.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/sept04/Barber_Knoxville.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/may/23/classicalmusicandopera
https://www.allmusic.com/album/barber-knoxville-summer-of-1915-essays-for-orchestra-nos-2-3-mw0001394150
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.559134&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barber-Knoxville-Summer-Toccata-Festiva/dp/B0001N9ZF2

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Samuel Barber (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. He is one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. His Adagio for Strings (1936) has earned a permanent place in the concert repertory of orchestras. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music twice: for his opera Vanessa (1956–57) and for the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1962). Also widely performed is his Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1947), a setting for soprano and orchestra of a prose text by James Agee. At the time of his death, nearly all of his compositions had been recorded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Barber

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Marin Alsop (born October 16, 1956 in New York) is an American conductor and violinist. She was educated at the Yale University and the Juilliard School. She was Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth SO (2002-2008), is currently music director of the Baltimore SO (since 2017) and the São Paulo State SO (since 2012), and chief conductor designate of the Vienna Radio SO. Highlights of Alsop’s recording collaboration with Naxos include a selection of works by Barber, several discs of music by Bernstein, a series of recordings of Dvořák and a Brahms symphony cycle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_Alsop

http://www.marinalsop.com/

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