Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Concertos for Double Orchestra
(2008)
Blu-ray Audio Only Disc.
One of the most famous, accessible, and beloved pieces of seasonal classical music,
Antonio Vivaldi's Baroque masterpiece 'The Four Seasons' is given a thoughtful performance
here by David Juritz and the London Mozart Players. Also presented are Vivaldi's 'Concertos
for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.' This recording of Vivaldi Four Seasons was made
utilizing 24bit 96 kHz technology. The sound stage is spread over the front three channels,
whilst the rear channels contain the natural ambience of the Church of St Silas the Martur,
Chalk Farm, to give the listener a realistic representation of the acoustic in witch
performance took place. Concertos for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary written for two
independent orchestras, these were recorded with the soloist, David Juritz, standing in the
middle of the two groups. This seemed an ideal opportunity to position the orchestras
accordingly in surround sound, so for both concertos, orchestra one is positioned in the front
channels and orchestra two in the rear.
Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons (Il quattro stagione), concertos (4) for violin, strings, &
continuo (Il cimento Nos. 1-4), Op. 8/1 - 4
Concerto in E major, Op. 8/1, RV 269 Spring
Concerto in G minor, Op. 8/2, RV 315 Summer
Concerto in F major, Op. 8/3, RV 293 Autumn
Concerto in F minor, Op. 8/4, RV 297 Winter
Antonio Vivaldi Double Orchestra Concerto Per la SS Assontione di Maria Vergine, for violin,
2 string orchestras & continuo in D major, RV 582
Antonio Vivaldi Double Orchestra Concerto Per la SS Assontione di Maria Vergine, for violin,
2 string orchestras & continuo in C major, RV 581
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Concertos for Double Orchestra Blu-ray Review
A wonderfully immersive listening experience of Vivaldi's best known work, "The Four Seasons,"
coupled with two lesser known concerti which are similarly delightful.
Even those without any particular appreciation for classical music tend to love the compositions
of Antonio Vivaldi. Effortlessly ebullient and never less than rapturously melodic, Vivaldi's
oeuvre has entered the public lexicon as few composers' have. Even my relatively
young sons recognized The Four Seasons, one of the offerings on this 2008 Surround
Records Blu-ray release, as soon as it started playing. If you're no particular fan of classical
music, or even Vivaldi in particular, I still heartily recommend this lovely recording, performed
with gusto and surprising nuance by the London Mozart Players under the able direction of
David Juritz. The sterling DTS HD-MA 7.1 format only makes this all the more enjoyable, as
Vivaldi delighted in antiphonal effects throughout his compositional career, with brilliantly
conversational "call and response" sequences offered up from both soloist and tutti as
well as the various sections of the orchestra. The clarity and balance of this recording brings
that wonderful feeling of a musical dialogue literally right (and left and in front and behind) to
the listener, making them feel like they're sitting in the middle of a virtuoso ensemble, which
indeed they are, if only vicariously.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was one of the most heralded of Baroque composers, something I've
often wondered (if only jokingly) had anything to do with him also being a Priest. After all, if
the writer of that evening's entertainment can also excommunicate you and damn you to
eternal hell, chances are you'll like his music no matter how bad it really is. However, the
fact is Vivaldi is one of the breeziest and most lyrical of composers, someone who matches
Mozart's quicksilver scalar inventiveness (and playfulness) while also bringing in the
contrapuntal complexity of the Baroque with unusual vigor and clarity. A violin virtuoso from
an early age, a lot of the best of Vivaldi's work features stunning string writing, and that's
nowhere more in evidence than in The Four Seasons, the celebrated group of four
string concerti that find the composer not just writing one inspired melody after another, but
actually forging the concerto form into the cohesive unit (albeit here with only three
movements) which would make it a staple of concert repertoire for centuries
afterward.
What is somewhat amazing is that after his death, Vivaldi's music fairly quickly passed into
obscurity, despite inspiring no less of a composer than Bach. By the 20th century, Vivaldi's
work was thought more or less to be totally lost to the ravages of time. Only a series of
incredibly fortuitous discoveries in various family libraries and other archives manage to
uncover several hundred pieces of Vivaldi's, catapulting him to "overnight sensation"
centuries after he had shuffled off this mortal coil.
The Four Seasons brilliantly evokes the changing weather we experience, but often
don't pay attention to, throughout each year. Vivaldi utilizes every string technique under
the sun (and/or rain and snow), including brilliant staccato phrases that sound like the prick
of raindrops, to gorgeously lyrical legato moments that are the aural equivalent of a
langorous afternoon under the sun. The quick-slow-quick format Vivaldi adopts in The
Four Seasons is perfectly realized throughout each of the four concerti, offering both an
overall typos as well as incredible variety within each concerto and the quartet taken
as a whole. If you think you are unfamiliar with The Four Seasons, I can pretty much
guarantee you you're not, and you'll be nodding your head with familiar joy as soon as you
hear the opening strains of "La primavera" (Spring). This Surround recording is wonderfully
effective, pitting the solo violin's quivers against the equally dainty work of the tutti
strings, as phrases bounce back and forth between the front three channels creating a
wonderful aural environment of call and response. The rear channels offer a completely
lifelike ambient "overflow" with no hint of delay. It's something that each of the
subsequent movements utilizes to varying degrees.
Though perhaps less well known than The Four Seasons, Vivaldi also wrote several
concerti for Double Orchestra with Violin, and two of those offerings are presented here,
with a somewhat different aural layout enticing the listener. Solo violinist David Juritz stood
in the middle of the "dueling" orchestras, and his wonderfully spry and agile violin tends to
fill all the surround channels equally. However, one orchestra is solidly placed in the front
channels and the other in the rear, offering once again a unique lesson in antiphonal
writing, as the soloist dodges and weaves in and out of declamatory phrases that pass from
one tutti ensemble to the next and then back again. It's a thrilling sonic experience,
one that is made more visceral by the London Mozart Players' excellent and precise phrasing
and intonation. These two concerti were written for the Feast of the Assumption of the
Virgin Mary, and again present three movements in each piece. Listeners will instantly
sense the stylistic difference between the frequent fireworks of the opening and closing
movements of both concerti which contrasts rather starkly with the almost monodic central
movements of each. Vivaldi's perhaps diabolic humor comes into play in each concerto with
a rather centrally featured tritone (the "Devil's interval") that upsets the repose, at least
momentarily. Juritz offers a splendidly improvised cadenza in the D major
concerto.
Though all of the pieces on this recording are played with modern instruments, you period
instrument purists shouldn't automatically be put off by that choice. This is a thrilling and
stylistically accurate rendering of Vivaldi's music, with some of the choicest string playing I've
heard in recent memory.
Surround Records licensed the original Naxos 5.1 source elements and repurposed them for
this brilliantly effective DTS HD-MA 7.1 Blu-ray. Sampled at 96 kHz, this Surround offering
also features a backward compatible 5.1 core with a bit rate of 1509 kbps. Though this is
actually an older recording (1999), there's little to no age-indicative issues that wary
listeners might be momentarily uptight about. Sitting in the middle of my 7.1 setup, I was
generally enthusiastic about what I was hearing. String sounds, while occasionally just a
tad on the dry side, had a warmth and lifelike ambience that were most inviting. Juritz'
playing on the two double concerti was amazing, centrally placed in the soundscape, making
the two "opposing" orchestras all the more interesting from a spatial perspective. I must
admit I was a bit underwhelmed with the low end on these recordings, and actually got
down on my hands and knees with my ear up to my subwoofer a time or two just to spot
check the output. It's definitely there, that can't be denied, but it's nothing overwhelming or
sonically acute. I suppose that can be reconciled with the general prevalence of the higher
strings outnumbering the lower, but at times I wished for just a bit more low end on all of
these recordings. Otherwise, this is a top notch effort and both from a performance
standpoint and an recording one, should delight all Vivaldi aficionados.
As I've mentioned in previous audio Blu-ray reviews, I'm still actually wrapping my head around
Blu-ray as an audio only format. The list of failed multichannel surround audio formats doesn't
augur well for audio only Blu-rays, and yet releases like this one show the potential of
surround recordings to an impeccable degree. This is wonderful music, wonderfully played and
recorded, and I highly recommend it.
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