We heard a fabulous opening concert of the Great Lakes Chamber Musical Festival last night. Although the piece of music I was most looking forward to, Barber's Adagio for Strings, was a disappointment. The Emerson Quartet, who played the whole program brilliantly, played this piece in a way I'd never heard it before--without a string orchestra behind them.It seemed thin and too muted. After listening to several versions on you tube, I see the fault was mine.
Have you heard it played both ways? Which did you prefer?
This was the entire program.
OPENING NIGHT
Seligman Performing Arts Center | 8:00 p.m.
Performance sponsored by Aviva & Dean Friedman
Martinu | Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola, H. 313
Philip Setzer, violin; Lawrence Dutton, viola
Dvořák | Terzetto in C major, Op. 74
Eugene Drucker, violin; Philip Setzer, violin; Lawrence Dutton, viola
Bloch | Suite Hébraïque
Lawrence Dutton, viola; Paul Watkins, piano
Barber | Adagio from String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11
Emerson String Quartet
Dvořák | String Quartet No 12. in F major, Op. 96, “American”
Emerson String Quartet
Here it is as performed the last time I heard it.
3 comments:
I'll take it either way, but it's not my favorite Barber. That's a pretty impressive concert!
What is your favorite Barber?
I was expecting that question, but I'm hard-pressed to suggest solely one. It's partly just that the "Adagio" is over-familiar...not nearly the worst of his familiar works, as Water Music is for Handel, but similarly to how "Fanfare" and "Appalachian Spring" aren't actually the best Coplands.
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