There’s so much to appreciate on NPR — Juan Williams being a notable exception. This weekend NPR has a feature on Samuel Barber’s deservedly popular and praised “Adagio for Strings.”
This is quite a switch from last week’s musical pick of Jerry Lee Lewis! The media player below has a recent recording of the Adagio for Strings.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/NOV06/adagio.mp3]I recall hearing this piece of music for the first time was when I was only 8, after JFK’s assassination. For me it’s expressive of The Human Condition; and not just the sense of loss it evokes, but any profound longing for something good and important in life.
I have “Central Park in the Dark” and the equally good “Unanswered Question” in my new Napster collection.
I was really, actually going to type “Platoon,” but changed my mind when I got confused and thought that was the cheap Vietnam movie Michael J. Fox was in; my mistake! You, sir, are CORRECT! Naturally, the most dramatic “high note” of “Adagio” is reached as the character played by Willem Dafoe is fatally shot and reaches skyward in slo-mo before dying! Tres dramatic!
Actually, “Adagio for Strings” was used in “Platoon.” The Door’s “The End” was famously used in “Apocalypse Now.” But you knew that!
Yes, that performance is played a bit fast, but it was conveniently available. I made an MP3 of “Central Park in the Dark” a few years ago, but can’t find it now.
One more comment! Charles Ives deeply complex and disturbing piece “Central Park in the Dark” (remember “Susan?” trivia buffs?), for me, IS the theme song for 9/11.
This version is played quite a bit faster than the one I have, by the way.
After Mom died, I had a very hard time crying and getting it out of my system, so to speak. Then I remembered I had THIS piece of music on a compiliation CD. I went for a long walk in the woods in April 2005 and listened to it, and BANG! the tears finally came. Most people associate this with “Apocalypse Now.”