2/5 Barber's trip to Europe awakened a love for its society and culture that continued for the rest of his life. While spending the summer of 1936 in the Tyrolean Alps Barber set to work on a string quartet. But he was only happy with the slow movement which took on a life of its own as the famous Adagio for strings. Donald Macleod introduces Barber's own vocal arrangement, plus a performance of his first symphony, premiered while he was studying in Rome, and Barber's first major orchestral commission, written on the eve of the Second World War. Strings in the Earth and Air
Cheryl Studer (soprano), John Browning (piano) Symphony No 1 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conductor David Zinman
Agnus Dei Dunedin Consort
Violin Concerto Isaac Stern , New York PO, conductor Leonard Bernstein
Repeated on Monday at 12 midnight