VA Four Seasons Russian Autumn (2009) Flac Mp3

There is no need to wait for winter end to feel how lovely spring is. We always look for it as season heralding something fair and beautiful to come into our life. Indeed, this is the most extraordinary season invented by nature. How beautiful, charming, gentle, magnificent and flawless it is! So much imbued with solemn music, heady fragrance, exceptional warmth, flowers and vivid colors… Its coming never fails to awaken our best feelings so that, having surrendered to them, we could delight in love, joy and happiness to the full. Jane Maximova: "When you listen to a new piece of music it provokes either feeling of the past or that of the future. "Four Seasons - Russian Spring" is one of the few albums provoking feeling of the future, the very feeling we usually experience in springtime".

After its rediscovery in the second half of the 20th century, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons has become so popular that it has become a model of inspiration for similar collections that have the same subject matter, use similar instrumental forces and, often, are commissioned to be played alongside the original. Issued in conjunction with the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Astor Piazzolla (4 July 1992), Sixteen Seasons brings together on disc for the first time the four most famous Four Seasons : hence alongside Vivaldi’s Italian concertos, also the Argentinian Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas of Piazzolla (in the version by Leonid Desyatnikov, a composer of Ukrainian origin), The American Four Seasons of Philip Glass, and the “Vivaldi recompositions” of British Max Richter. To guide us through these seasons – which are spread over different continents, climates and musical styles – is Concerto Mediterraneo, an ensemble made up of musicians from all over Italy and directed by Gianna Fratta, while the eclectic Alessandro Quarta shares the solo violin role with Dino De Palma. The liner notes by historian Alessandro Vanoli and meteorologist Luca Mercalli complete a project that also stands as a reflection on the profound relationship between man and the alternation of the seasons and the role played by climate change from Vivaldi’s day to the present.

“Humphrey’s utter absorption and delight shines forth at every turn… strong toned, easy fluidity and immaculate technique” - Gramophone. Since winning the BBC Music Magazine Instrumental award in 2018 Fenella Humphreys has been in demand throughout the UK and Europe. Post minimalist composer Max Richter has composed many successful film scores, most recently ‘Mary Queen of Scots’, ‘White Boy Rick’ and ‘Black Mirror’. His 2012 ‘Recomposed’ topped the charts in 22 countries. His beautifully crafted intelligent work based on the famous concertos by Vivaldi retains only a quarter of the original music; Richter skilfully employs looped and phased parts of pure Vivaldi which emphasise his postmodern and minimalist credentials. Fenella partners ‘Recomposed’ with the powerful ‘Lonely Angel’ by Vasks and Pärt’s popular ‘Fratres’.

Violinist Isabella d’Éloize Perron and conductor Francis Choiniere, recognized as two generational prodigies, have collaborated to introduce a refreshing interpretation of Vivaldi and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons, recorded at the presitigious Maison Symphonique in Montreal, and culminating in a new album set to release on March 22nd, 2024.

If listeners had to commit to a single version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons for the rest of their lives, this 1984 BIS recording would be thoroughly satisfying choice. Superbly played, brilliantly recorded period instrument performances of this perennial masterpiece are all but a dime a dozen, and the differences between Hogwood's and Pinnock's and Harnoncourt's readings don't begin to make up for the fatal boredom of their performances. This version with Nils-Erik Sparf and the Drottningholm Court Baroque Ensemble would be an ideal choice because theirs is the freshest performance of the piece. Beyond their excellent technique and impeccable sense of style, Sparf and the Swedish musicians bring joy and enthusiasm to the music, and sound like they are in turn receiving happiness and energy from the music. There's real pleasure here, and real affection, as if the concertos were newly composed and these were their world premieres. Filled out with witty accounts of Vivaldi's F major Concerto for Bassoon and his G minor Concerto for Flute and Bassoon, this disc is a delight.