Could this be the next Adagietto?

Could this be the next Adagietto?

News

norman lebrecht

November 26, 2021

From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:

Ever since Samuel Barber’s Adagio and Gustav Mahler’s Adagietto became the standard works of public mourning and consolation, the first in the 1940s, the second in the 1970s, the search has been on for an alternative orchestral offering of sombre yet hopeful contemplation.

When the Pittsburgh Symphony commissioned…

Read on here.

And here.

En francais maintenant, ici.

In Czech here.

In The Critic.

Comments

  • PS says:

    If I played it at a funeral I would start it about six minutes in. I got Amazon Music to check out these Albums of the Week on a Fire tablet. So far it’s working well.

  • V.Lind says:

    The Larghetto is a marvellous piece, and ought indeed to have a much wider following.

    Not surprised by your favourable response to Pittsburgh Symphony. It’s an interesting place. I know someone whose work took him on a number of trips there a couple of years ago. He was neutral about going, but after the first 2 or 3 day visit, he looked immensely forward to the next ones and always planned something for his rare downtime. He said it was a great city with a wonderful feel to it.

    Often true of working towns, I suspect.

    Anyway, this is a most appealing album. I am thinking of stocking stuffing with it.

    • John Borstlap says:

      It’s not an ‘album’ but a CD. The term ‘album’ stems form the pop music world, it is a very vulgar word.

  • John Borstlap says:

    Here it is:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlxIGd4zlCY

    A really good piece, entirely traditional, without imitation. You can clearly hear MacMillan’s choral writing but there’s nothing wrong with that.

  • kk says:

    Whose search? To what end? Isn’t Mahler good enough? Or is this simply a piece of shameless self-advertisement on the part of the blogger?

    • John Borstlap says:

      No, we simply expect some progress in mourning music. Mahler is already quite old and thus outdated. After a while, MacMillan will get outdated, to be followed-up by something even better, and all of this is going-up in an upward line to the music of Utopia.

  • Peter San Diego says:

    The Pittsburgh Symphony has blossomed gloriously under Honeck; this promises to be a magnificent album.

  • Baffled in Buffalo says:

    I hope *some* piece will replace the Mahler *Adagietto* as a go-to selection for public mourning, since performance with that intent yields distortion via sluggish tempo and pumped-up melodrama. Well, discussion of the Mahler movement’s speed and nature is ubiquitous, and most people here will have their own opinion. I’d only add thar the harp passages are truly magical in the brisker versions.
    The Barber piece though will eternally be fitting for public sadness. I’d say the MacMillan piece has its virtues, but me attention started to wander as it continued.

  • Anthony Sanderson says:

    In London on Saturday at the Royal Festival, the UK premiere of James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio is being performed. Sir Mark Elder is conducting the London Philharmonic and the Hallé Choir. I am looking forward to it.

    https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/classical-music/james-macmillans-christmas-oratorio?eventId=719661

  • Frank Flambeau says:

    Honeck is a great one.

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