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Title: Worthy of a wide audience
Review: This is a brilliant disc in every way. First, Pollack and Naxos have assembled on a single disc Barber's complete output for solo piano. Secondly, Pollack plays the music with passion, commitment, understanding and breathtaking virtuosity. For those who know Samuel Barber's music only from the Adagio, this music will come as a profound shock. It's tough, overtly modernistic, almost constructivist, if I might use that word of someone wholly American, and rather conservative to boot. Its rhythmic intensity is quite astounding. Here and there I can find hints even of Scriabin, but Samuel Barber's voice is eventually a wholly original and individual creation.
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