Barber, S: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11

Cellist Christian Poltéra turns to the music of Samuel Barber. He is joined by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrew Litton and pianist Kathryn Stott.

Poltéra opens his programme with the Cello Concerto – one of only three concertos by Barber – which balances the natural lyric expressiveness of his earlier music with a more urgent, rhythmic and intense style.

Poltéra and regular chamber-music partner Stott then perform the Sonata for Cello and Piano, composed while Barber was still a student.

The disc closes with the enormously popular Adagio for strings.

On previous discs, Christian Poltéra has combined concertos with chamber works by composers such as Frank Martin (BISCD1637) and Arthur Honegger (BISCD1617).

With one exception, a short piece by Jeanne Rivier entitled “Grave et Presto”, all the music on this new CD has either been arranged or composed for or by the acclaimed Dutch Saxophone ensemble known as the Amstel Quartet.

Featured composers range from Bach, Mozart and Brahms through to Ravel, Samuel Barber, and the popular contemporary composer Michael Nyman.

The four musicians that make up the Amstel Quartet first came together in 1997 after a tour with the National Youth Orchestra. Over the years since its inception the group has been the recipient of several prizes including the Concert Artists Guild Management Award, The Kersjes Prize, and the Gaudeamus Interpreters Concours. The Amstel Quartet have released 7 CDs to date most of which are available on Amstel Records.

The eight popular pieces on this disc illustrate a variety of aspects of American music. From the impudent piquancy of 18th-century Europe; the picture-postcard colour of Latin America; the urban neon of New York and the metropolitan appeal of the French capital, to the sombre reflection of Barber's thoughtful-provoking Adagio: all are masterpieces of succinct characterisation and orchestral refinement.

Barbara Hendricks' voice — particularly suited to Mozart, Debussy, Fauré, and the lighter roles of Puccini and Richard Strauss — has a warm, crystalline quality that has kept her in demand on stage and in recording studios. Her performances have embraced everything from contemporary music to popular standards, including songs of Duke Ellington and several world premieres. She has been careful with her choices of repertoire, avoiding roles that would overextend her essentially lyric instrument. Aside from music, she is deeply committed to humanitarian work, with a particular concern for refugees and those in war or poverty zones. She sang a concert in Sarajevo in 1993 while the city was being shelled, in which she had to wear a bulletproof vest and helmet.

Hendricks has appeared on nearly 80 recordings spread over a variety of major labels. Her first of many recordings for EMI was in the small part of the Celestial Voice in Don Carlo in 1978. For nearly twenty years her solo recordings have been made exclusively for EMI Classics.

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) is best-known today for his Adagio for Strings, which was originally written as the slow movement for an early string quartet, and has become one of most played pieces of classical music. The Adagio was first perfomed in its orchestral form by Toscanini, with the Essay for Orchestra in the same concert. These works are typical of Barber's output, being overtly European in outlook and language.Barber composed music in most genres: two symphonies; concertos for piano, cello and violin, two grand operas; ballets; choral works; chamber music and a great number of songs. This selection of works includes the beautifully reflective Knoxville: Summer 1915, written to a sensitive text from James Agee's unfinished novel A Death in the Family. Also included is the Violin Concerto with it's lovely slow movement and the Overture to a School for Scandal, which was the first of Barber's works to be performed by a major orchestra.