Barber: Symphony no 1

Day 118

Barber: Symphony no 1

Royal National Scottish Orchestra

Marin Alsop

There is of course more to Barber than the Adagio for strings, but that remains his by far his most famous work. I don’t know much of his music - I have heard the violin and piano concerto and the dances from Medea but that is about it. This symphony, which dates from 1935-37 is in a single movement with interlinked sections using variants of the same melodic shapes. The language is tonal and to me was reminiscent of Hindemith and Vaughan Williams with a dash of Copland. The opening was certainly evocative of the ‘wide open spaces’ so characteristic of American music of this ear.

To be frank I found the music attractive but un memorable. As I write this, some hours after hearing the piece I am struggling to remember anything much of it. That rather sums it up for me. I certainly didn’t dislike the piece but equally I didn’t find anything here to suggest that I should listen to another Barber symphony. After all there are plenty of other American symphonic composers to explore.