4 4 For Four

It's a bit depressing how many new releases from the "major" classical labels these days consist of recycled old recordings, but give Deutsche Grammophon credit for the thinking that obviously went into this four-CD box entitled The Four Seasons: A Musical Calendar of Favourite Classics. In a way, this is yet another milking of the perennially salable Vivaldi Four Seasons; each of the four discs (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) opens with a complete performance of its respective concerto from that set, in the Gil Shaham recording with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

We are so excited and thrilled to finally reveal this project, which we have been imagining and developing for months… « Nos 4 saisons », our four seasons! We heard The Four Seasons for the first time before we even knew how to talk, and the sound of the violin is one of our first memories. It's as if we always knew we would return to this repertoire one day, that we would happily dive back into our childhood. Vivaldi has laid the foundations of all modern music with his work, and if you listen well, you find his harmonies in all of today’s pop music. With this album, we built our own bridge between classical music that made us grow and the song that has soothed us for a long time. It was obvious for us to record these four seasons together, as sisters, with our common vision of the work.” – Camille & Julie Berthollet