Samuel Barber - Songs (Gerald Finley)

Information

Composer: Samuel Barber

• (01) There's nae lark
• (02) The Beggar's Song
• (03) In the dark pinewood
• (04) Bessie Bobtail, Op. 2 No. 3
• (05) Hermit Songs, Op. 29
• (15) Rain has fallen, Op. 10 No. 1
• (16) Sleep now, Op. 10 No. 2
• (17) I hear an army, Op. 10 No. 3
• (18) Mélodies passagères, Op. 27
• (23) The Daisies, Op. 2 No. 1
• (24) With rue my heart is laden, Op. 2 No. 2
• (25) Nocturne, Op. 13 No. 4
• (26) Sure on this shining night, Op. 13 No. 3
• (27) Dover Beach, Op. 3

Gerald Finley, baritone
Julius Drake, piano
The Aronowitz Ensemble (27)

Date: 2007
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67528

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Review

A wonderful reminder of Barber’s skill as a songwriter, in ideal performances

Performances of this calibre emphasise Barber’s stature in the mainstream of 20th-century song composers. The tradition is Anglo-American and “There’s nae lark”, written when Barber was 16 to a poem by Swinburne in imitation Scots, could even be by Quilter. But Barber soon gets into his stride and by the time he reached his Three Songs, Op†10, there’s a rare kind of intensity as impressive as anything on this CD. The poems are from James Joyce’s Chamber Music; Barber set a few more, such as “In the dark pinewood” included here; but what a tragedy he never set the whole cycle that could have been an American Winterreise. The Hermit Songs, fey and whimsically amusing, are probably the best-known set.

The immediate comparison is with the Gramophone Award-winning Thomas Hampson, who is accompanied by John Browning, a close friend and colleague of Barber’s. Finley’s voice is lower – he transposes many of the songs – and richer, with nothing to fear alongside Hampson, who is anyway on a two-CD set. Mostly I prefer Finley, and the recording is warmer.

“Sure on the shining night” is vintage Barber, and Finley and Drake are impeccable (as are the Aronowitz Quartet in Dover Beach). The French songs, to poems by Rilke, who did write in French, have less character, but the single songs are all gems. This is another outstanding Hyperion release that does credit to Barber in what will soon be a run-up to his centenary.

-- Peter Dickinson, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10
http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=5504
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/nov/16/classicalmusicandopera.shopping2
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-finley-barber-1207.shtml
https://www.allmusic.com/album/songs-by-samuel-barber-mw0001869335
https://www.amazon.com/Barber-Songs-Samuel/dp/B000WE5G5I

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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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Gerald Finley (born January 30, 1960 in Montreal) is a Canadian baritone opera singer. He received his musical education in St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Ottawa, the University of Ottawa, King's College, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music in London, England. Finley is particularly renowned for his interpretations of Mozart roles such as Guglielmo, Papageno, Figaro, the Count and Don Giovanni. He has been critically praised both in opera and in concert, being praised by audience and critics alike. Finley has appeared on a number of recordings, including several solo albums on the Hyperion label.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Finley
http://www.geraldfinley.com/

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