Adagio For Strings

'Adagio For Strings' was an arrangement by the American Composer Samuel Barber as a composition for his string quartet composed in 1936.

It originated as a second movement following on from a violently first movement of Molto allegro e appassionato. The music was given its first radio play by the NBC Symphony Orchestra in New York, 1938

Adagio is a musical notation usually signifying that the movement, or piece to be played indicates a slower playing tempo.

I remember when I first saw the movie by Oliver Stone, 'Platoon' and recall this hauntingly beautiful musical piece played not once by twice in the film. I didn't know it at the time and wasn't a real fan of classical music back then ( I was just 18 ), yet this musical orchestral movement resonated perfectly with the horror depicted in the film.

The particular scenes within the film when this is played is perfect, and I don't feel any other item of music would do it justice.

The version used in the movie Platoon was arranged by the French Composer, Georges Delerue.

The original version is known as Agnus Dei, composed of course by Sam Barber, If I ever get to find out who these members are of the orchestral singers are, I will update that here. Listen to the alto and soprano voices, simply hauntingly beautiful. Reminds me also very much of Gregorian Chant.

The World Premier of the first play back in 1938 New York radio, was selected and established for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the United States Library Of Congress.

It has also been played for the funeral of Princess Grace Of Monaco, and at the funeral of Albert Einstein. Also, it was played over the radio during the announcement of Franklin D Roosevelt's passing.

It has also made an appearance in other genres apart from films, being used for episodes of The Simpsons, Boondocks, Southpark and How I Met Your Mother. A choral version performed by Santa Barbara's Quire of Voyces is the second track used in the popular video game (of the time) Homeworld.

Voted as the saddest classical music ever created, ahead of Dido's Lament and several other tracks on the BBC's Today program when listeners were asked to vote on this back in 2004.

A recorded performance by the London Symphony Orchestra also helped it achieve the highest selling musical classical piece and sold as number one on the classical charts on Apple's iTunes Store.

It has also in recent times, seen a re-emergence in the genre's of Electronic Dance music. Variations have been recorded and / or remixed by artists such as DJ Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, William Orbit and Ferry Corsten