Four Seasons: EMS 19 March

[doversoul1]

Vivaldi condensed a whole year into his Four Seasons concertos, so they're an ideal showcase for Radio 3's Free Thinking "speed of life" weekend in Gateshead. Lucie Skeaping presents a concert given by The Avison Ensemble and violin soloist Bojan Čičić, along with the sonnets from which Vivaldi took his musical inspiration read by actor Rob Ward.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08jfbtc

Not a terribly convincing argument but it’s good to hear the work whatever the excuse is as long as the performance is of Vivaldi’s work.

[doversoul1]

It was rather nice to hear The Four Seasons sounding so pastoral, for a change.

[Quarky]

An excellent programme. Pitched at the right level for this listener.

[ardcarp]

Yes, it was quite a tweak to use Vivaldi's best-known pieces in The Speed of Life thingy. I found these performances fresh and beautifully executed, especially enhanced with the text readings. And didn't find myself transported to a lift or a call-centre.

[Old Grumpy]

An excellent programme. Pitched at the right level for this listener.

Didn't hear the programme, couldn't get tickets, and was actually at recording of The Verb during the recording and at another Freethinking event during the transmission. I will "listen again", but in the interim will solely state that I have previously heard The Avison Ensemble given an excellent account of this piece in a live setting.

OG