Choral Music By Samuel Barber

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Release Date: 28th Aug 2015
Catalogue No: SOMMCD0152
Label: Somm
Length: 73 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Barber: Reincarnations, Op. 16

Work length8:37

$3.00

$3.90

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

No. 1, Mary Hynes

Track length2:20

$1.00

$1.30

No. 2, Anthony O'Daly

Track length3:03

$1.00

$1.30

No. 3, The Coolin

Track length3:14

$1.00

$1.30

Barber: Chorale for Ascension Day

Work length2:50

$1.00

$1.30

Matthew Firkins
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, Birmingham Conservatoire Brass Band
Paul Spicer

Barber: God’s Grandeur

Work length6:40

$1.00

$1.30

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: Let Down the Bars, O Death, Op. 8 No. 2

Work length2:12

$1.00

$1.30

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: 2 Choruses

Work length6:37

$2.00

$2.60

Ben Kennedy
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

No. 1, On the Death of Antony

Track length3:18

$1.00

$1.30

No. 2, On the Death of Cleopatra

Track length3:19

$1.00

$1.30

Barber: Twelfth Night, Op. 42 No. 1

Work length4:12

$1.00

$1.30

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: To Be Sung on the Water, Op. 42 No. 2

Work length2:51

$1.00

$1.30

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: The Monk and His Cat (No. 8 from Hermit Songs)

Work length2:25

$1.00

$1.30

Ben Kennedy
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: Under the Willow Tree

Work length3:09

$1.00

$1.30

Ben Kennedy
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map, Op. 15

Work length5:59

$1.00

$1.30

Matthew Firkins
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: Motetto

Work length8:59

$3.00

$3.90

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

No. 1, There the Wicked Cease

Track length1:37

$1.00

$1.30

No. 2, Call Now!

Track length3:33

$1.00

$1.30

No. 3, God's Grandeur

Track length3:49

$1.00

$1.30

Barber: The Virgin Martyrs, Op. 8 No. 1

Work length3:35

$1.00

$1.30

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: Rounds

Work length2:06

$1.00

$1.30

Ben Kennedy
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

No. 8, The Moon

Track length2:06

$1.00

$1.30

Barber: Sure on this shining night, Op. 13 No. 3

Work length2:29

$1.00

$1.30

Ben Kennedy
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: Ad bibinem cum me regaret ad cenam

Work length1:50

$1.00

$1.30

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: Heaven-Haven: A Nun Takes the Veil Op. 13, No. 1

Work length1:54

$1.00

$1.30

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

Barber: Agnus Dei (After Adagio for Strings, Op. 11)

Work length6:37

$1.00

$1.30

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Paul Spicer

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This fourth disc in Somm's series of recordings with Paul Spicer and his Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir gives us most of Samuel Barber's utterly beautiful, neo-Romantic choral music.

Barber wrote a great deal of choral music, written in a traditional 19th century tonal idiom despite the fact that his critics called it 'utterly anachronistic and passé', a criticism to which he remained largely impervious. There was no denying however, that Barber's technical brilliance and emotional immediacy placed him at the forefront of American music.

Setting texts for chorus or solo songs formed a large part of Barber's creative life. At the heart of his self-expression was an intimate relationship with the text he was setting. He was fond of British and Irish literature and read poetry ardently, marking texts he might later use, and honing vocal pieces until he was satisfied that they reflected the rhythm, contour, and meaning of words. Barber's use of alternating homophonic and contrapuntal textures as well as sombre harmonies reflect his interest in early Baroque choral music.

Much of his music exposed his melancholy but he also had a kind, gregarious, likable side to his character, seen here in works like the three 'Reincarnations' and 'The Monk and His Cat'. Barber's Agnus Dei, heard here in his own arrangement of the famous Adagio for Strings has gained the same prominence as its instrumental counterpart.

Barber's music reflects the many sides of a complex man who, despite his warmth and humour could never fully escape his own sadness. "I myself wrote always as I wished, and without a tremendous desire to find the latest thing possible... I wrote as I wanted to for myself", he once declared.

Choral Music By Samuel Barber

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