Vivaldi:The Four Seasons, etc

This CD offers astoundingly fine performances of the all-time favorite pieces of Vivaldi, Albinoni-Giazotto, and Pachelbel: to wit, the Four Seasons, the Adagio in G Minor, and the Canon. Though the market is flooded with performances of these works, the London Chamber Orchestra's take on them nonetheless stands out in brilliant contrast for its sheer beauty, liveliness, joy, and perfection.

The London Chamber Orchestra is the longest established professional chamber music group in the United Kingdom and one of the very oldest in Europe, being formed in 1921 by Anthony Bernard. Receiving no governmental support, it relies upon the generosity of its corporate and individual donors and sponsors, in addition to ticket sales, recordings, etc. It numbers a dozen or so members augmented from time to time by guest artists and conductors. Christopher Warren-Green is its current principal conductor and music director, though it often performs without a conductor. It has received glowing reviews and highest plaudits over the years and on up to the present time, when it regularly fills venues around the world as well as its home site in London with wildly enthusiastic audiences. It tends to recruit its members and guests from among the brightest young artists on the scene, thus giving its performances a distinctly youthful vigor and buoyancy in addition to unparalleled virtuosity, precision, and ensemble. (That's quite a load of superlatives, but give the group a listen before you accuse me of going overboard.)

Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" (Le quattro stagioni) consists of four violin concertos in various major and minor keys, each containing three movements (fast-slow-fast) and depicting a particular season of the year. Originally written in 1723 for solo violin with string quartet and continuo, the works are often performed today with somewhat greater instrumental forces. Vivaldi no doubt wrote the pieces to show off his own remarkable virtuosity on the violin, and with popular appeal in mind he included several striking programmatic elements, such as imitations of bird calls, dogs barking, etc. That his plan worked brilliantly is seen in the great popularity of the music over the years and certainly today. The London Chamber Orchestra (LCO) embraces this chance to make an exciting display of its daring, exuberance, and instrumental mastery in the context of good musical style and taste. Occupying by far the major portion of the disk, this performance will make you draw your breath and say "Wow! I never knew the old Four Seasons could sound like that!"

The so-called Albinoni Adagio in G MInor is much more a product of the musicologist Remo Giazotto than of its namesake. Indeed, some suspect that it is entirely the work of Giazotto, who claimed to have received a small fragment of an Albinoni work, which he then proceeded to develop into a complete single-movement work for organ and strings. In any case, the finished work is not in the baroque style of Albinoni, but represents almost entirely Giazotto's own creative imagination. (And given the great success of this work, I suspect Giazotto came to wish he'd taken full credit for it.) The LCO's performance is, for all practical purposes, flawless as it presents the unique mood, color, drama, and flow of this haunting work.

Pachelbel's Canon (Kanon) was written originally as a Canon and Gigue for organ in the 18th century, but its most familiar mode of presentation today is as a "canon" alone (actually a chaconne or passacaglia), arranged for violins and continuo. Though its composer wrote a great deal of good baroque church music, the Canon is by far his best known work today, appearing on countless "collection" CDs, including those of wedding music. (How many brides have walked down the aisle to this Canon is unknowable, but it must be a very large number.) The LCO play this marvelously appealing music with all its ear-comforting peace, dignity, and quiet joy perhaps better than any other group, as it proceeds from an utterly simply beginning to unfold into ever more exciting and delicious variations, all the while retaining its simple repeated bass foundation.

The sumptuous sound of this digital recording is a tribute to the engineers of Virgin Classics: it makes this smallish ensemble seem like all the musical riches the ear could desire. It is surely one of the best recording jobs ever!

To sum up, this CD gives us truly superlative recordings of three of the best-loved classical pieces ever written. If you are looking for the best to date presentations of these pieces, then run--do not walk--to your computer and order this marvelous CD! You'll be so glad you did!

I got this on a quest for a good recording of Pachelbel's Canon. While not true to the original baroque score (in that case get the Academy of Ancient Music's version), it is more satisfying than the popular Palliard recordings. Christopher Warren-Green directs the orchestra with an incredible sense of dynamics. There is a tiny bit of hiss and the mastering is low, as with many classical recordings, but these are minor complaints. Of course, most people will get this for the Four Seasons. I cannot imagine a better recording of these concertos.

I got this on a quest for the