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Sunday, December 19, 2004
Barber Cello Concerto, First MovementSamuel Barber died the year I was born. Though a composer whose style, according to the New Grove Dictionary, was "expressive, lyrical music, using conventional formal models and the tonal language of the 19th century", many listeners think this concerto sounds more contemporary, leaning towards the "strange" side of contemporary. I admit that the music is not as readily accessible as Barber's more popular violin concerto, but in the scope of the music of the 20th century, this is in ways quite tame. Barber's Cello Concerto was written a little after he was discharged from the US Air Force in 1945, and, when the second movement surfaces on the media site, the music reflects some of the things he saw while there. But first, the first movement. It's in a loose sonata form; the first twenty-odd bars introduces all the material that will surface throughout the movement -- though it's not present in this recording. Instead, it has an obligatory four bars prior to the entrance of the solo cello. A cadenza-like passage from the solo cello is followed by further dialogue between the orchestra (piano) and solo instrument. The technical difficulties presented in the first movement carry somewhat of a legend of its own, and is even now thought to be rarely performed because of certain passages. Imminent cellist Orlando Cole, as the story goes, when asked by Barber why there weren't more cellists playing the piece, told him that it was because of the demanding passage work in the first movement; in particular, the double-stopped thirds and sixths. Some versions say that Cole then asked Barber to reduce the hurdles. Happily, though Barber did revise the concerto mid-century, it was only in thinning out the orchestration. Samuel Barber Cello Concerto, Opus 22, First Movement Adrian Fung, cello Mariko Furukawa, piano November 3, 2004. 
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