Barber: Capricorn Concerto concludes Naxos American Classics' six-disc survey of the complete orchestral music of Samuel Barber as performed by Marin Alsop and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Far from being a collection of odds and ends, this gathering of lesser-known material directly contrasts the optimistic and extroverted moods of Barber's early and mid-periods with more insular, personal, and retiring music dating from his last years. One wonders why the Capricorn Concerto is so seldom recorded -- its mixture of ...
Read More
Barber: Capricorn Concerto concludes Naxos American Classics' six-disc survey of the complete orchestral music of Samuel Barber as performed by Marin Alsop and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Far from being a collection of odds and ends, this gathering of lesser-known material directly contrasts the optimistic and extroverted moods of Barber's early and mid-periods with more insular, personal, and retiring music dating from his last years. One wonders why the Capricorn Concerto is so seldom recorded -- its mixture of sunny idealism and worried counterpoint is every bit as appealing as Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks Concerto. In 1959, Howard Hanson made a recording of this work with the Eastman-Rochester Pops Orchestra, which was so good perhaps the record companies decided we didn't need another one! One thing this Naxos recording has that the Hanson does not is a true sense of sonic depth, and in this work it is good to hear the loud music "loudly" and the quiet music "quietly." Barber's...
Read Less
