Samuel Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915 • Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra - Maria Valdes, soprano 

Sent them another donation ($250) as these talented folks deserve every bit of it. Thank to all for bringing such wonderful talent to my life!

I'm so impressed with the musicians the,two violinists, woodwind players, and of course Maria singing. These amazing musicians have invested some much time and work to present their talents to us... Barbers piece is so warm and yet dark, intense yet mesmerizing. The Kaleidescope Orchestra and Maria eclipsed Dawn Upshaw's (exceptional) rendition :-). They need our support....

One of the fine classical pieces composed on American soil. The orchestral score is amazingly refined and Maria sings great.

Probably the best setting of prose by an American composer, great performance.

Mesmerizingly beautiful. Ms. Valdés is absolutely radiant

We really vibing rn in 2021

C'est très beau .

Is there anything more beautiful than this?

Sublime. This work for high voice and orchestra is a setting of excerpts from a 1938 prose poem by James Agee that would later serve as a preface for the author’s A Death in the Family. Barber’s piece premiered in Boston in 1948, with Eleanor Steber singing and Serge Koussevitzky conducting. It has become that time of evening when people sit on their porches, rocking gently and talking gently and watching the street and the standing up into their sphere of possession of the trees, of birds' hung havens, hangars. People go by; things go by. A horse, drawing a buggy, breaking his hollow iron music on the asphalt; a loud auto; a quiet auto; people in pairs, not in a hurry, scuffling, switching their weight of aestival body, talking casually, the taste hovering over them of vanilla, strawberry, pasteboard and starched milk, the image upon them of lovers and horsemen, squared with clowns in hueless amber A streetcar raising its iron moan; stopping, belling and starting; stertorous; rousing and raising again its iron increasing moan and swimming its gold windows and straw seats on past and past and past, the bleak spark crackling and cursing above it like a small malignant spirit set to dog its tracks; the iron whine rises on rising speed; still risen, faints; halts; the faint stinging bell; rises again, still fainter, fainting, lifting, lifts, faints foregone: forgotten. Now is the night one blue dew Now is the night one blue dew, my father has drained, he has coiled the hose Low on the length of lawns, a frailing of fire who breathes.... Parents on porches: rock and rock. From damp strings morning glories hang their ancient faces The dry and exalted noise of the locusts from all the air at once enchants my eardrums On the rough wet grass of the back yard my father and mother have spread quilts. We all lie there, my mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, and I too am lying there....They are not talking much, and the talk is quiet, of nothing in particular, of nothing at all. The stars are wide and alive, they seem each like a smile of great sweetness, and they seem very near. All my people are larger bodies than mine,...with voices gentle and meaningless like the voices of sleeping birds. One is an artist, he is living at home. One is a musician, she is living at home. One is my mother who is good to me. One is my father who is good to me. By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night. May God bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am

Such a good looking soprano, amazing voice, so clear, clarity of sound from the chamber musicians

The soprano has a beautiful voice.

The emotional intensity, the sense of foreboding, the calm bucolic scenes, the tenderness are all mixed in this incredible piece. For the first time we can see it performed a the chamber work that it is. Its a marvelous video. I had the good fortune to perform this (viola) once.

Absolutely superb all around.

Such beautiful singing by Maria

Oh does she understand this piece.

The impression pierced deep in the soul.Tour de force ！ Greetings from Japan. Sayonara！ So long ！

lovely, my favorite piece of chamber music . . . maybe my favorite piece of any music. Well done, complementi a tutti!

Wow. What a gorgeous performance. The clarity of the score is breathtaking here.

An absolutely wonderful performance by all concerned. Thank you.

This group is doing excellent work with unusual repertoire. Congrats to them. John Biggs, composer

Beautiful!

You have an exceptional soloist here. A ravishing sound, all of Barber's notes well in the voice, just a beautifully shaped performance. Thank you all.

Beautiful singing thank you

Sublime.

Heaven on Earth

Exceptional, incredible! Amazing voice and musicality!

What a voice! What strength and perfection! Bravo!

Wow this is my go to piece I just an extraordinary orchestra and Maria Valdez is amazing on Spotify what a group of amazing decisions don't skip beat there is no conductor what can I say fabulous

This really is lovely. No other word will do.

Valdes does a great job with this, but it is important to remember that Samuel Barber made it possible. It's brilliant music. He's famous for his Adagio for Strings, but this, this: an absolute masterpiece.

wow. stunning

Bravo!!!! Stunning Performance and production! This is an American masterpiece.

This was amazing! Thank you 🙏🏻

Stunning and inspiring! Thank you!

beautiful

Wonderful. Very moving performance.

I have been captivated by this beautiful composition from my first hearing of Samual Barber's Knoxville, Summer of 1915. The writing is so evocative in its varied colors, textures, and musical nuance. The vocalist and musicians give a stunning performance!

The text is from William Agee's book "A Death in the Family" he also wrote The African Queen.

Wonderful version. Ms. Valdes was brilliant.

Beautiful. Reminiscent of Dawn Upshaw’s remarkable interpretation, but with a little more weight. Brava.

I love this.

Beautiful

Just listened to this again, what an amazing singer *and* orchestra. Wow! Great audio for a single mic :-) Makes life worth living to hear such talented people!

Brava...Bravo

I was thinking of Dawn Upshaw too, but a chamber orchestra really brings out the individual tones so much more, Summer of Knoxville is not a "big orchestra" work, this is the perfect setting and size. Most of Barbers works were for voice or small ensembles at most

Very nice

A lot of performances are over-praised on YT by the ignorant. However, Maria is outstanding.

Listening once again, what an amazing rendition of Barber's work. Where to begin? The musicians are incredibly talented and so dedicated to their craft. The singer is exceptional, what an amazing voice, they all added so much emotion to one of the 20th centuries most intense creations. What a lovely performance in many ways. Also note the orchestra is producing this flawless peice without a conductor, sound is amazing for a simple.dual mic setup. I wish I could have been in attendance for the performance. Would love to chat with these amazing people (once I dried my tears) :-)

Is there anything about this to not like? Jeebus.

Wonderful performance of one of the most poignant works ever written.

Having lived near Knoxville (Oak Ridge) for a few years when I was a kid, in my mental image the families actually sitting on their porches at dusk. But the ladies certainly didn't wear dresses as skimpy as Maria Valdes wears in this video.

Hello! Thanks for this video! What camera did you use? Thanks!

Great performance but "Now is the night, one lue dew"? :-) She omitted the 'b' the first time. PIty because she floated the phrase so well.

Soprano has a small voice. She ruined a great performance.