BaL 17.09.16 - Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

[umslopogaas]

#42 Thanks HighlandDougie, as one nerdy LP collector to another, I didnt know that Decca reissued some of its early mono LPs, I wonder why? Maybe simply because the later sleeves were more robust, its very hard to find the early plain non-laminated sleeves in good condition. I shall check my shelves to see if I've got any duplicates.

[BBMmk2]

I'll be playing this today! Hmm when that slow movement comes, with the dog barking violin, I know it's the heat of the day, in 'Summer'!!

[pastoralguy]

Further congrats to EA on what must have been a Herculean task!

I'm curious to know what happened to the TWO recordings of the 4 Seasons that I am playing on ( no, not violin, harpsichord! ). The violin soloist on both of them was the now late and lamented Jose-Luis Garcia. The first one, on 'ASV', was directed 'from the violin' by Garcia, with the ECO. The 2nd one, for 'RCA', also with the ECO, was conducted by Leonard Slatkin, who I seem to remember insisted that I keep playing chords filling in the harmony even when the score instructs the harpsichord to play only 'tasto solo' ( literally 'single touch', meaning 'play only the bass line without harmony') !

By sheer coincidence, I found the Slatkin recording in a charity shop today! This is on the Reader's Digest label and seems to have been attributed to 1986. (Not sure if this is the recording year or its release date). I've only half listened in the motor car but it sounds pretty fine to me.

[Barbirollians]

I have always found the Loveday/Marriner a bit middle class dinner party very clean and very safe -maybe that is because it seemed to be a stalwart of them

[MickyD]

I have always found the Loveday/Marriner a bit middle class dinner party very clean and very safe -maybe that is because it seemed to be a stalwart of them

I listened to it on YouTube the other evening, and though I have been a committed HIP performance fan for well over 30 years, I must say that I found it still surprisingly light and fresh. It must have seemed like a revelation at the time, compared to the stodgier versions.

[Nick Armstrong]

I suspect that the Barchet mono versions are one and the same recording. Decca went through a phase in the mid to late 1950s of reissuing earlier LXT 2000 series as LXT 5000 series - they were given laminated glossy colour sleeves, as opposed to the rather plain ones of their earlier incarnations.... LXT 5377 being a reissue of LXT 2600. Do I get the prize for the nerdiest post?

... I could so get into this sleeve thing!

Lovely cover, LXT 5277!

But what a nice sleeve LXT 2600 was, too, with room for each of the original sonnets...

[BBMmk2]

Very good to that, Cali! Thanks! :)

[teamsaint]

now THAT would make a nice vinyl re release.

[gurnemanz]

I acquired this along the way - I think someone gave it to me.



It might look a bit a bit naff but it is actually rather nicely done with 60 pages giving musical themes in notation with accompanying text in Italian and English from the Sonnets, along with reproductions of appropriate paintings from the Metropolitan's collection. The accompanying recording from Richard Kapp and the New York Philharmonia Virtuosi Orchestra with soloist Paul Peabody is very good. Still apparently available.

[vinteuil]

I have always found the Loveday/Marriner a bit middle class dinner party very clean and very safe...

... sadly, that is my reaction to almost everything Marriner/ASMIF did.

[Barbirollians]

Yes me too - I would not say the same about when Iona Brown was directing from the violin though .

[Barbirollians]

Nils-Erik Sparf (baroque violin), Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble. I remember this getting rave reviews in Gramophone many moons ago - anyone got it ?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Nils-Erik Sparf (baroque violin), Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble. I remember this getting rave reviews in Gramophone many moons ago - anyone got it ?

Yes - the only version I own, in fact! Rather splendid - lively, joyful playing, with really touching Music-making in the slower movements.

I share the reservations that you and vinty have voiced for the famous ASMF recording. All credit to Marriner and his colleagues for their work in Baroque Music (and Italian instrumental work in particular) but I never enjoyed Vivaldi until HIPP recordings started to appear. It seemed to me that ASMF played Vivaldi just the same as they played Bach and Handel - there was (to my disappointed ears) a generalized "Baroque" approach, with little attempt - nor possibly the time to devote to such attempts, learning how to play the notes themselves - to distinguish the composers' individuality. (I had the Loveday recording, the SAGA LP mentioned earlier, and the I Musici all on vinyl - and the school had the Munchinger record, which was a heavy beast and seemed to be twice as thick as the LPs I owned - and they all merely served to convince me that all the nasty things said about the composer were true. )

But my real appreciation of Vivaldi has arisen in the last decade or so, with the emergence of the "high octane" Formula One recordings, which many people seriously dislike. For me, these sound astonishing - really distinct from other composers, and demanding to be heard. I doubt that Esfahani will choose one of these, though - he has made disparaging remarks about this approach not so long ago.

[visualnickmos]

Probably get laughed out of the house for this, but I rather like Isaac Stern's recording with the Jerusalem Music Centre Chamber Orchestra. It is excellent, IMVVHO, I enjoy the almost-understatedness of this particular performance., compared to some more recent recordings, which can (to my mind) sound perhaps a little OTT...

[mikealdren]

I didn't know BaL had been going for as long as that. When did it begin?

Not sure when it began but I am sure I listened to it in the early 70s. I can't really remember RR without it and I listened to that from the late 60s but BaL may not have been part of it then

Mike