Barber Violin Concerto
What are your favorite recordings for this concerto and what would you rate it in terms of musical and technical difficulty if compared to, lets say, Bruch 1 and Tchaik.?
And just out of curiosity, anyone know who played the fastest 3rd movement? Hilary Hahn?
Replies (31)
Perlman's recording is very inspiring, but in Gil Shaham's you can tell exactly what he is trying to do. I like Perlman's. I think the Barber is harder to interpret musically than the Bruch. Also, the right sound is hard to obtain for it, especially the opening.
Difficulty wise, it is much closer to Bruch 1 then to Tchaikovsky. My favorite recording of it is by Hilary Hahn.
The sound component in this concerto is a huge factor of the technical side involved. It's a very challenging concerto to play convincingly and if you aren't musicaly inclined towards the piece the performance will likely not be terribly successful. It's a great concerto though and it would be nice to see it on concert programs more often, same with his cello concerto.
I'd say it's right smack in between Bruch and Tchaik as far as pure technical challenges go. Like Kelsey said, though, its real challenge is tone production and musical intent.
I like Hilary's recording very much, but I love listening to the 3rd mvt. of Gil Shaham's version. Partially because his concept of the movement places the phrases so well, partially to hear the orchestra almost fall apart (and hopelessly behind him) about halfway through.
isaac stern's recording is the best
My favorite is Louis Kaufman's
Mine is a toss-up between Hahn and Stern.
Hahn is so incredibly pure and clean, while Stern has a more "personal" feel.
The difficulty is between the Bruch and Tchaikovsky.
I recorded this concerto with the Berlin Symphony. It is out on the Melodiya label.
i'd be interested to hear that
I've been looking for Robert McDuffie's recording of the Barber in the used CD stores
Well, I'm chuffed to think that you all think the Barber is between Bruch and Tchaik. I found the former, really difficult esp. the last movt - it's not my favourite concerto and I think it is overplayed in the UK esp. on classic fm radio. I never learned the Tchaik but always thought it would be too difficult for me. However, I performed the Barber with full orchestra (a long time ago - I don't play anymore) so maybe I wasn't sooooooooooo bad. Meanwhile, Stern's recording gets the vote for me every single time though I'm afraid - but then I'm biassed as he's one of my all time favourite fiddlers.
I personally love Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's recording. Her warm, rich tone and vibrato are great for this piece. Plus, she plays it with SO much more emotion than Isaac Stern (my opinion.)
Has anyone else noticed that in the 1st movement of Gil Shaham's recording, there's one spot where the first violins are BLATANTLY out of tune? What was up with that orchestra? Sheesh! You'd think they'd re-record or edit or do something to fix it.
Greetings,
no. Some wag of an engineer wanted to give people something to talk about on the Internet,
Cheers,
Buri
hey, its a hard orchestra part.
"I've been looking for Robert McDuffie's recording of the Barber in the used CD stores"
I saw it at the store in the Kimmel Center (Philly Orchestra). On the CD there was also the Barber Piano Concerto. I dunno if that helps you much though. ha
i like shaham's a lot.. i want to get stern's b/c i've never heard it
I like Shaham's recording
Would like to hear Kogan play it but that is hard to get
Hi,
Difficulty-wise, the concerto ranks between the Bruch and Tchaik., although closer to Bruch than Tchaik..
There are many excellent recordings: Shaham, Hahn, Stern. I don't know the Kaufmann. One excellent one is with Elmar Oliveira. Really superb. And oddly enough, though I am not usually a fan, Salerno-Sonnenberg actually has a very warm, nice, romantic version of the piece.
Joshua Bell's performance of it is fantastic!
I really like Hilary Hahn's conception of the Barber!
I know this a bit after the fact, but I have to mention the 1963 recording by Robert Gerle with Robert Zeller and the Wiener Staatsoper, which I find to be a haunting performance.
I like the finale to be played more "on the string" to allow the clever accents to come through; otherwise it sounds like a study..
I don't care who plays the finale fastest, but who plays the whole concerto most movingly. HH is wonderful and so is Anne Akiko Myers. And a live dress rehearsal I attended of Glenn Dicterow was just amazing.
Elmar Oliveira's recording with the St. Louis Symphony and Joseph Silverstein's with the Utah Symphony are exceptional in my opinion.
Anne Akiko Myers recording is beyond beautiful. It's the recording I favor. Though Hilary Hahn and Gil Shaham's are close runner ups in my opinion.
I haven't heard most of these, so I'll pass on commenting on them.
But I do wish that Albert Spalding had put it on wax. He was still somewhat close to his prime when he premiered it, and it's the kind of thing he would have done very well.
I think the concerto was first performed in 1941 and wonder why the debut performance wasn't recorded. Maybe too costly? Wasn't the Menuhin version of Mendelssohn recorded a little before this.
There is a recording of the premier with Albert Spalding, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ormandy from 7 February 1941. I don't know who did the original recording, but it's issued by West Hill Radio Archive WHRA6039. It's is a large collection of historic Barber recordings (8 discs), but well worth the cost for Barber fans.
Thanks!
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August 19, 2004 at 05:13 AM · I think most of this piece ranks in difficulty somewhere between the Bruch and Tchaikovsky. Hahn plays the Barber so well...she plays the last movement better than anyone.