Adagio For Strings - Samuel Barber - directed by Leonard Bernstein
Described as “an extensive and slow melody formed by gradual intervals, slightly modified in each repetition, supported by endless chords, all set into a vigorous climax reaching the highest registers of the instruments, followed by a retreat into calm that brings the musical expansion to an end,” Samuel Osmond Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” taken from the "Quartet in B minor Op.11," features in the OST of "Platoon" (1986), directed by William Oliver Stone, in "The Elephant Man" (1980) by David Keith Lynch and other movies. It was composed in 1936 and first publicly performed in 1938 under the direction of Maestro Arturo Toscanini.
Since then, it has often been played at funerals and to commemorate the death of notable global figures such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Princess Grace of Monaco, to honor the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, in 2015 after the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, in 2016 after the Brussels attacks, again in 2016 for the victims of the shooting at the Orlando nightclub, in 2017 for the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing, in Berlin on May 1st, 2020 for the victims of coronavirus, and in 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. (so when you listen to it, it’s a good idea to touch wood—just in case…)
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