Barber: Adagio for Strings; Concerto for Violin and Orchestra/Schuman: To Thee Old Cause; In Praise Of Shahn
Barber's Violin Concerto is so pretty that you feel almost guilty enjoying it so much. Curiously, it's very beauty and simplicity caused the composer great difficulty. The performer who commissioned the work claimed that the first two movements were too easy, so Barber wrote a dazzling finale, which he then claimed was unplayable! It wasn't, of course, and the piece has been an international favorite ever since Isaac Stern and Leonard Bernstein demonstrated once and for all that it belongs squarely in the long line of great Romantic works for violin and orchestra. This classic performance has been newly remastered and sounds better than ever. The couplings are apt and interesting.--David Hurwitz