Vivaldi - The Four Seasons [Da Costa/ Schulz-Wiener Concert Verein] 

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.

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons [Mutter/ Karajan-Wiener Philharmonker] 

Here's another Four Seasons by Vivaldi, one of the most popular works in classical music, some people hate it because of an over-exposure to the music, but i actually love this work, i have several versions, most with Internationally known Violinists, and i never seem to get bored with this work, it's good to hear Mutter's interpretation of it today. 

Anne-Sophie Mutter is German, she's now 49, she recorded this work here with Karajan in 1984, however she re-recorded the work with a smaller group [the Trondheim Soloists] in 1999, this is the bigger 'symphonic' interpretation, maybe more regal and majestic, whereas the 'chamber' interpretation is more individual and zesty, both work, and it's good to have both extremes, the front and back inlay are excellent [photos by Snowdon, i take it that's Lord Snowdon = Anthony Armstrong-Jones], the picture in a wood, sunlight dappling through the trees, Mutter with her violin, it's a great pic, upper three fifths tree trunks, lower two fifths the woodland floor, Mutter brings a wonderful dash of colour and human-ness to the picture, the small white lettering above is excellently laid out too, and Karajan on the back, a much darker shot, but he's well lit.

It was Winter that i found exhilarating, especially the opening movement, . 

Here's on Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the first movement of Winter on YouTube, Herbert Von Karajan conducting.

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons [Dura/Edlinger -Capella Istropolitana] 

Now here's a disc which i've never seen before, and i've never seen since, i saw it on Ebay from Austria i think, and i had to have it, and the thing is better than i thought, these things only come your way almost once in a lifetime, grab them while you can, i've got loads of discs with this work on it, you could feel that something gets over popularized, but i think it's a worthy work to listen to a broad range of interpretations, and this is this discs very first outing, a really nice acquisition. 

Roxana Dura is from Romania, i've never heard of her before, this work was recorded in 1990, so it also seems that she has fallen off the face of the earth in the last 20 years, the booklet is very good [by Juraj Bartos], nice dark background, which emphasises the Artists, nicely caught in 'practice' clothes rather than in performing attire, though i don't know why the lettering is in small print for her name, another great disc in my library.

I must admit that this performance isn't revolutionary, pretty much like many other performances, though very good, i enjoyed Winter the best, especially the middle movement Largo, the violins like rain drops pizzicato in the background, on this performance it only lasts less than 2 minutes, it's those high strings that really make the piece, it's a lovely tune by Dura, right at the end the violin pizzicato goes down toward bass, plus slows down to a stop [1:35-1:44], a nice ending. 

Here's Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the middle movement of Winter on YouTube, Herbert Von Karajan conducting.

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons [Mullova/ Abbado-Chamber Orchestra Of Europe]

Another Vivaldi warhorse, this is sensibly done with chamber forces, a full Orchestra can seem swampy, you need to hear clean individual textures in a work like this, it's how Vivaldi himself would have heard it, just about every respectable Violinist has tackled this well known work, and it's good to hear Mullova's take on it.

Viktoria Mullova is Russian, she's now 52, she recorded this work back in 1987, wow! 25 years ago already, the front cover is by Christian Steiner, a good shot, though i feel it could have been bettered in a different pose.

I must admit i liked Mullova's Winter the best,  

Here's Julia Fischer playing Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons on YouTube.

Vivaldi - Oboe Concertos Volume 1 [Schilli/Jonas-Failoni Chamber Orchestra Budapest] 

Naxos have issued the complete Vivaldi Oboe Concertos on two discs, this includes all the Double Oboe Concertos [with Diethelm Jonas on the second Oboe here], and i feel that it's these Double Oboe Concertos that are the best thing here, each has a certain character, and once you get familiar with certain tunes in certain movements, you just can't get them out of your head, Vivaldi created roughly 500 Concertos, just the sheer number, all created in his Baroque style, can sound very 'samey', but you can start to pick out favourite bits, unlike say the Bassoon [which Vivaldi composed a fair number of Concertos for], which i don't think really works for Vivaldi, the Oboe on the other hand works just great.

Stefan Schilli i believe is German, this disc was recorded in 1992, as is usual with Naxos discs, the front covers have a tendency to leave a lot to be desired, they aren't very inspired in my mind.

Well i so much enjoyed three separate movements on this disc, the opening movement of RV 534, the slow middle movement of RV 452, and the opening movement of the Double Concerto RV 536, and it's this Concerto i would like to talk about, the oboes really just double up, they don't play any different from each other, or play separately from each other, the opening is just pure genius invention, the two oboes play piercingly high treble, i guess it's in their nature, it's quite a high instrument, and the strings fill in the oboe silences with downward string notes [0:00-0:31], after a string tutti, the oboes come back in, and play a nice variation of the opening [0:53-1:10], with cleverly added embellishments, and this is the way that the music continues, orchestral tuttis punctuated by oboe solos, each new oboe solo seems to become slightly more varied and virtuosic than the last, the third solo is the best [1:27-1:49], adding some nice higher 'flutterings', and the last solo [2:06-2:26], returns to the more flatter unembellished opening, once you get this in your head and heart, it becomes really endearing.

Here's Christopher Palameta & John Abberger playing the Double Oboe Concerto RV 536 on YouTube.

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons [Kennedy-English Chamber Orchestra] 

Well here's Nige!, no matter what anyone says about these four Concertos, congealed into possibly the most recorded Classical work of all time, and quite possibly by the best selling Classical disc of all time, i still love this work, it never gets stale for me, but this is the first time i've heard Kennedy in this work.

Nigel Kennedy is now 54!, yes what happened to that kid?, and he seems to have kept forever young by his Punk Rock dress sense, and hair style, keeping hip means keeping young, he was born in England in 1956, and recorded this work in 1986 & 1989, amazingly he was already 25 when he began to record this work, this is the 30th anniversary edition of the original disc, the front cover is a huge improvement over the old original, showing 4 black and white pictures of Kennedy, coloured in in different colours, i suppose representing the four seasons, very very nice, there's also a DVD of the whole work, but i haven't watched that yet.

The first half of the work [Spring & Summer] is fairly conventional, the second half [Autumn & Winter] have some strange effects by Kennedy, i would like to just touch on the two movements that i thought were the best,

Summer 3, represents a summer thunderstorm, with frantic strings, and different sections overlapping each other in their ferocity, and Kennedy building on this ferocity, the music develops a lovely rhythm [1:06+], with some lovely high treble solo work by Kennedy [1:30-1:43], the overlapping strings reappear like sheets of rain pelting down [2:02-2:12], ends as frantic as it started.

Winter 1, starts off with strange cold voicings, the movement represents the biting cold, a person stamping their feet to keep warm, and their teeth chattering, when the violins get going [1:15-1:27], the rapid fire violins certainly sounds like chattering teeth, and the stamping comes from the beat the violins make [2:04-2:20], and nice twangings while Kennedy plays very high treble [2:30-2:57].

A version well worth hearing.