There are rituals I must follow regarding Lenten music. Early on, I play an album of Barber’s Adagio, specifically THIS album.
As I noted here:
From This Day in History:
Adagio for Strings had begun not as a freestanding piece, but as one movement of Barber’s 1936 String Quartet No. 1, Opus 11. When that movement provoked a mid-composition standing ovation at its premiere performance, Barber decided to create the orchestral adaptation that he would soon send to Toscanini.
In later years, the piece would be played at the state funerals of both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, taking its place as what one observer has called “the semi-official music of mourning.”
“It is an adaptable piece, which has been arranged for solo organ, clarinet choir, woodwind band, and, as Agnus Dei, for chorus with optional organ or piano accompaniment, among others.”
From Wikipedia: “Alexander J. Morin, author of Classical Music: The Listener’s Companion (2001), said that the piece was ‘full of pathos and cathartic passion’ and that it ‘rarely leaves a dry eye.’… As part of a musical retrospective in 2000, NPR named Adagio for Strings one of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.” Listening to eight versions leaves me a bit a puddle.
Listen:
The Choir Of Trinity College, Cambridge (Agnus Dei)
Kalman Opperman Clarinet Choir, Richard Stoltzman, clarinet
David Pizarro, organ
Smithsonian Chamber Players Kenneth Slowik, conductor
You might assume that it might feel a bit repetitive, but not really. Still, I have a particular affection for the organ version and the Agnus Dei. My least favorite is the Galway, a sentiment echoed by a couple of Amazon reviewers, but I don’t hate it.
Some time after I have played the whole thing, I will listen to a bunch of requiems, especially by Fauré, Rutter, and, of course, Mozart.
