Saw this disc on Ebay, being sold by someone from Asia, fairly expensive, but i really liked the look of it, so i took the plunge, this is its first outing in my disc player, i was surprised by the good sound, it's very well recorded, well some people are put off by this being so popular, almost treating it as 'classical-lite', and i guess good old Nige Kennedy reinforced those ideas, but for me it is a great work, offering twelve different visual pictures, and it's surprising what different vibes you can get out of the same set up, there's a phenomenal virtuosity going on at times, and yet these are mini pictures, 3 or 4 minutes long, it doesn't takes lots of concentration, and the aural view changes pretty rapidly, this is a great version to consider.
Alexandre Da Costa is Canadian, he's now 33, for a Classical Artist i guess that's still pretty young, he recorded this disc in 2005, the front cover photo is a real treat [by Richard Bull], taking its cue from Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, we have Da Costa standing in two poses, one within a square, the other within a circle, superimposed on each other, it's a great idea, and to add the violin is a great touch, but also the lettering, in black, white, and orange, works out great too, a really good visual product.
The whole of this work was really satisfying, but i especially enjoyed the first movement of Summer, and the middle movement of winter, and here's a more detailed synopsis of each,
Summer 1 - Marked Allegro Non Troppo, but the introduction is slow and stately [0:00-1:18], also cast in the key of G Minor, but when the real Allegro gets going, it's a splendid vehicle for virtuosity, Da Costa working away feverishly [1:20-1:58], but it lasts barely half a minute before we're into another slow intro / section, and it takes lazy time before it picks up again, but again there's a virtuosity [3:13-3:40] using a device to swing back and forth between fast and slow sections, a sort of roller coaster of a ride, and the thing ends on a virtuosic finale [5:03-5:31], just the sort of thing you need at the start of Summer.
Winter 2 - The dead of Winter i guess, and yet the music certainly isn't bleak, even though it's in the key of F Minor, it's lively and fun, and yes it's written as Largo, but it sounds faster then that, maybe it's because of the fairly fast pizzicato strings in the background, meant to represent icy rain, while i guess the violin is safely indoors by a roaring fire, a lovely tune of contentment, only lasting a little more than 2 minutes [2:03], nothing really changes during the movement, the same tune and constant pizzicato to go along with it.
Summer 1 - Marked Allegro Non Troppo, but the introduction is slow and stately [0:00-1:18], also cast in the key of G Minor, but when the real Allegro gets going, it's a splendid vehicle for virtuosity, Da Costa working away feverishly [1:20-1:58], but it lasts barely half a minute before we're into another slow intro / section, and it takes lazy time before it picks up again, but again there's a virtuosity [3:13-3:40] using a device to swing back and forth between fast and slow sections, a sort of roller coaster of a ride, and the thing ends on a virtuosic finale [5:03-5:31], just the sort of thing you need at the start of Summer.
Winter 2 - The dead of Winter i guess, and yet the music certainly isn't bleak, even though it's in the key of F Minor, it's lively and fun, and yes it's written as Largo, but it sounds faster then that, maybe it's because of the fairly fast pizzicato strings in the background, meant to represent icy rain, while i guess the violin is safely indoors by a roaring fire, a lovely tune of contentment, only lasting a little more than 2 minutes [2:03], nothing really changes during the movement, the same tune and constant pizzicato to go along with it.
