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Samuel Barber Piano Concerto

Classical Music Milestone: September 24

The Piano Concerto, Op. 38, of Samuel Barber was first performed on September 24, 1962, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Lincoln Center, New York City.  John Browning, soloist, and Erich Leinsdorf, conducting. It was commissioned by the music publishing company G. Schirmer Inc. honouring the centenary of their founding. It was the opening festivities of the Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall), the first hall built at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

American composer Samuel Barber studied piano and conducting, and singing with his aunt, a famous contralto of her time. he later developed a good baritone voice. He began composing when still a child, and later studied at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, graduating in 1932.



The work is scored for piano solo and an orchestra, in three movements:

1.  Allegro appasionato
2. Canzone: Moderato. For this movement it has been noted that the scoring calls for an almost identical instruments to that of the Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1916) of Manuel de Falla, and the orchestration of the Canzone movement with moments of marked similarity.
3. Allegro molto



Video Credit:

"Samuel Barber Piano Concerto Op.38, John Browning, Complete".  Youtube, uploaded by HarpsichordA6.
Accessed September 24, 2013.


Resource:

"Piano Concerto Barber." en.wikipedia.org / Public Domain.

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