Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 I Bruckner: String Quintet in F major by Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin / Sayako Kusaka & Michael Erxleben (Digital Album)

The slow movement in classical music has many names: adagio, andante, largo, and marcia funèbre are just some of the best known. What they all have in common is their function in the composition scheme – as a centre of calm in a dynamic environment of allegros, scherzi and prestos which forces the listener to pause for a while and to allow a moment of introspection and contemplation. The musical architecture requires that they are firmly anchored in this position and are, as such, an integral part of the work. The story of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings op.11 developed in a different way. Composed in 1936 it was originally created as the second movement, Molto Adagio, of the three-movement String Quartet op. 11. But in Rome Barber had a fateful encounter with Arturo Toscanini. Among the compositions that he showed him, Toscanini quickly recognised the extraordinary qualities of the middle movement and suggested that Barber orchestrate the Adagio as a standalone version for string orchestra. In New York on 5 November 1938, the conductor and the NBC Symphony Orchestra thanked the composer with a radio broadcast of the premiere of the work, thus launching a musical world success. The work very quickly became the most popular musical work for particular events. It was played at the funeral of US President Roosevelt, and of Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, Grace Kelly and Rainier III of Monaco. It was also broadcast on the radio on the anniversary of the attacks of 11 September 2001 and has served prominent directors including Oliver Stone (Platoon) and Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan) as a musical basis for their anti-war films. In contrast, the Adagio in Anton Bruckner’s String Quintet in F major, follows the traditional adagio role between a fast Scherzo and a lively, animated Finale and is as such rightly regarded as the centre of the whole musical work. Musical Vienna was unusually of one mind for once regarding Bruckner. All reviewers highlighted the Adagio. And even Bruckner’s die-hard opponent Max Kalbeck from the newspaper “Die Presse” and an authority among critics gave it high praise: “The Adagio emanates light, light in thousands of colours and nuances – the reflection of an ecstatic vision reaching to the seventh heaven.” Cugate Classics proudly welcomes b-sharp, a fresh Berlin based label for classical music. It is a premium branch of the correspondent music production-company and recording studio, which has already made a name for itself with internationally acclaimed recordings of superior artistic and technical quality. Recent awards include 2 Grammys, 6 Echo-Classic awards, multiple Gold and Platinum awards and even two entries into the Guinness Book of World Records

released December 1, 2019

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