A. Toscanini Conducts Adagio for Strings (Barber)

Samuel Barber:

Adagio for Strings, Opus 11

Conductor: Arturo Toscanini
Orchestra: NBC Symphony Orchestra
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Recently, I watched the movie Platoon for the 5th time. I always got sadder every time I watched it. But thats just a movie; if a movie can be that sad on its portrayal of the terrible Vietnam War, how would have been the real war itself? One can only wonder the horrors of it. I never understood why the soldiers refused to help the children. What if I was one of them, in a tunnel with a bomb exploding right beside me?

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Sad
• Classical
• Music
• Arturo
• Toscanini
• Adagio
• for
• Strings
• Samuel
• Barber
• NBC
• Symphony
• Orchestra
• Platoon
• Vietnam
• War
• Sinfoniette

[Janus1981BR]

Arturo Toscanini has shown many times throughout his career that he was an excellent interpreter of the composers' original intent. The Adagio by Barber seems to be no exception here. I am glad he showed his competence in interpreting 20th century music. To answer your question, saufunnom, I wish I had that recording, but I don't. If you like Toscanini, you've probably heard the NBC Symphony recordings of Beethoven's 9 Symphonies. I would recommend also the Verdi Requiem w/Toscanini.

[Sinfoniette]

Personally, I think a lot of his work with the Philadelphia (the one when T switched with Stokowski) shows his greatest. The Mendelssohn Midsummer, Schubert 9th and the Tchaikovsky 6th is supreme!

[percphs]

With all of the horrible things in the world, we can at least say that we still have this... that we still have music. That is the only true good of the world, probably. I just got back from performing in an orchestral concert. And I feel great about being about of something beautiful with my life.

Samuel Barber... touched my life with this piece.

[Kievest]

Toscanini's gift was to hear the heartbeat of the composer and to make it audible

to the listener with truth, love and beauty. Barber's music is a haunting and terrible

sigh of empassioned nobility and universal melancholy. Often coupled with

shattering human tragedy and loss, the Adagio and Toscanini's conducting

offer comfort on the deepest levels born of the most touching expression of

profound emotional agony. As an American, I am shamed to my soul by your

video! I am not alone!

[SatchmoSings]

@tienphuc69 First of all, genius, there were draft laws in those days and they could have been amended to get rid of the college deferment.

Secondly, anytime you have to send in foreign troops to do what the South Vietnamese REFUSED to do for themselves, it's already a lost cause.

Harry Truman was accused of "losing" China to Communists; the one who really lost China to Communists was Chiang kai-Shek; Vietnam was the same thing, albeit on a smaller scale.

[SteveAndrewLangford]

This doesn't sound like the world premiere 1938 version; someone said it might be the '42, it sounds different to me from the '38 version anyways. Nevertheless, if Toscanini recorded this twice, both of these recordings are the best out there.

[gottagit]

@Kievest: your verbiage is a gift......

[ultrasions]

The whole war was FUBAR. Fuck charlie, fuck it all.

[feidtublec]

speechless...

[Sinfoniette]

@tienphuc69 Its stupid to think that America was a gunstrapped martyr who backed away. It was a highly calculated movement, as with so much political movements. Its also stupid to think that the communist dictatorship reins because Americans backed out. I don't want to judge you, if you were not part of the war, you shouldn't make comments like your first sentence, and if you did, I cannot believe that you would be able to regard the war completely disregarding the men who fought there.

[kamillianne]

I can barely listen ..without weeping. this piece touches my soul to the,,, painful...excuse me..I have to go lay down now.

[madcapfortunato]

If this piece was poison, I would drink it if it meant that I might better understand it. I would die content to know that it and I were, for a brief moment, one.

[SatchmoSings]

@2ndviolinist I used to have the complete Toscanini recordings with the Philadelphia; the only ones I can recall off-hand are Schubert's NInth (terrible) The Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream (excellent) and Tchaikovsky's Sixth whose impression I cannot recall. (The post WWII by T. and The NBC is rather mediocre.)

I've also never heard any recordings with S leading the NBC.