NRR Project: ‘Adagio for Strings’
Composed by Samuel Barber
Performed by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony
Broadcast Nov. 5, 1938
7:36
I could not do better than Barbara Heyman’s excellent essay on the piece, which you can readhere.
I can only add that the piece, a gentle ethereal rising of chords in the string section, slow and solemn, has always identified itself in my mind with death. It began with the media around the killing of John F. Kennedy, then cropped up consistently in times of mourning. It is deeply moving the first few times you hear it, but it has become oppressive through repetition.
The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Kate Smith sings God Bless America.
