Monday, May 24, 2010

Allan Kozinn on "The Four Seasons"

"In recent years the smooth textures and elegant solo violin playing that have long characterized 'Four Seasons' performances have given way to brash, high-energy readings. … The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the violinist Midori Seiler expand on this visceral approach in … a CD that brings together the Vivaldi and a more obscure but equally descriptive work, Jean-Féry Rebel’s 1737 ballet, 'Les Éléments.' The reading is a curious hybrid: though the Akademie honors the period-instrument world’s current fascination with assertiveness, it also takes ambitious textural and interpretive liberties. Not only does the ensemble incorporate a double bass, for example, but it also uses the instrument to magnify the dramatic thunderstorm passages in 'Spring' and 'Summer' and the breaking of the ice in 'Winter.' When the hunters catch their quarry in the finale of 'Autumn,' a snapping string suggests the lethal shot, and the bass pounds home its finality. Ms. Seiler’s solo line is focused and often sizzling, and she makes a point of adding stylish ornamentation, along with programmatically freewheeling but defensible phrasing ideas" ("Vivaldi Sound Pictures (Cue Birds)," New York Times, 4/4/10).

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