Samuel Barber Piano Sonata mov.1

in E flat minor
Performed by Vladimir Horowitz (first recording of work)

Barber was personally active in Horowitz's learning process with this sonata.

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West Chester, Pennsylvania. At a very early age, Barber became profoundly interested in music, and it was apparent that he had great musical talent and ability. At the age of nine he wrote to his mother:
" Dear Mother: I have written to tell you my worrying secret. Now don't cry when you read it because it is neither yours nor my fault. I suppose I will have to tell it now, without any nonsense. To begin with I was not meant to be an athlete. I was meant to be a composer, and will be I'm sure. I'll ask you one more thing .—Don't ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football.—Please—Sometimes I've been worrying about this so much that it makes me mad (not very). "

He wrote his first musical composition at the early age of 7 and attempted to write his first opera at the age of 10. He was an organist at the age of 12. When he was 14, he entered the Curtis Institute, a conservatory where he studied piano, composition, and voice.

Barber was born into a comfortable, educated, social, and distinguished Irish-American family. His father was a doctor, and his mother was a pianist. His aunt, Louise Homer, was a leading Contralto at the Metropolitan Opera and his uncle, Sidney Homer, was a composer of American art songs. Louise Homer is noted to have influenced Barber's interest in voice. Through his aunt, Barber had access to many great singers and songs. This background is further reflected in that Barber decided to study voice at the Curtis Conservatory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Barber

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Samuel
• Barber
• Piano
• Sonata
• Vladimir
• Horowitz
• jazz
• classical
• electronic
• indie
• hip-hop

[3cplantin]

Well, it's the difference between 2 or more musical/compositional generations. The difference between late Bach and Beethoven's mid-period; between Liszt and Bartok; between mid-Baroque and early Mozart; between Mahler and John Cage; between Bartok and John Adams; between Beethoven and late Brahms -- all huge differences. Barber hasn't been modern for a while now.

[John11inch]

Barber is a Neoclassical composer, actually.

[jositaJea]

4:56 reminds me a lot of Scarbo

[jcsv12345]

Of all of Barber's works this one is surprisingly terrible.

[oneminuscossquaredx]

piano falling down stairs

[MrSkinnygecko]

so is this guy like related to justin bieber rite?

[5BLD]

Incredible!

[FlyingBlackAndWhite]

what a definitive performance!

[FlyingBlackAndWhite]

@iriverivyleague Vladimir Horowitz

[Glinkaism1]

@findingusernamesucks Yes! Barber's Essays for Orchestra aren't much in the public ear. The Adagio for Strings suffers from overplay. Too many movies have made it kitchy. Barber's 3rd Essay for Ork is like a romantic movie score, though. Lovely!

[iriverivyleague]

who played this?