A chat with composer Leonard Slatkin

Samuel Barber had one of the most unusual career trajectories of any American composer. No one came out of the box faster. Born in 1910, he made a splash at 21 with his "Overture to the School for Scandal" and found a champion in Arturo Toscanini, who gave the world premieres of the famous "Adagio for Strings" and First Essay for Orchestra in 1938 when the composer was all of 28.

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