Samuel Barber initially composed this piece for string quartet. It is the middle movement of this work that is known to be the heart-breaker.
The opening single note is joined by a collective sigh of the most pointed sadness, then traces a meandering, slowly ascending chant. The accompanying voices rarely cadence together, but achingly suspend themselves time and again. Barber’s combination of calm pacing and intensifying background develops to a shattering climax in the upper reaches of the strings eight minutes later.
This work incredibly difficult to play well, even for four virtuosos in a quartet, let alone an entire string orchestra. It doesn’t even end on the home chord, because the original led directly onto the next movement.
Samuel Barber was never pleased with that last movement, almost as if he intuited that nothing could follow the “Adagio”. He knew its power and immediately arranged it—by itself—for string orchestra.
It’s a disquieting piece. But in the last hundred years, it is also probably the most-heard orchestral work in the world.
Here is the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra to perform this work for you:
