Vivaldi & Piazzolla - Four Seasons
£15.15
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Label: Pentatone
Cat No: PTC5186746
Format: Hybrid SACD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Orchestral
Release Date: 19th June 2020
Contents
Works
The Four Seasons (Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas) (arr. Peter von Wienhardt)The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni)
Artists
Arabella Steinbacher (violin)Munchener Kammerorchester
Works
The Four Seasons (Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas) (arr. Peter von Wienhardt)The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni)
Artists
Arabella Steinbacher (violin)Munchener Kammerorchester
About
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Piazzolla: Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas: 3. Primavera Porteña (Spring)
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2Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.1 in E minor, RV269 ‘La primavera’ (Spring): 1. Allegro
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3Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.1 in E minor, RV269 ‘La primavera’ (Spring): 2. Largo e pianissimo sempre
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4Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.1 in E minor, RV269 ‘La primavera’ (Spring): 3. Allegro pastorale
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5Piazzolla: Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas: 1. Verano Porteña (Summer)
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6Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.2 in G minor, RV315 ‘L’estate’ (Summer): 1. Allegro non molto
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7Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.2 in G minor, RV315 ‘L’estate’ (Summer): 2. Adagio e piano – Presto e forte
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8Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.2 in G minor, RV315 ‘L’estate’ (Summer): 3. Presto
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9Piazzolla: Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas: 4. Otoño Porteña (Autumn)
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10Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.3 in F major, RV293 ‘L’autunno’ (Autumn): 1. Allegro
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11Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.3 in F major, RV293 ‘L’autunno’ (Autumn): 2. Adagio molto
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12Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.3 in F major, RV293 ‘L’autunno’ (Autumn): 3. Allegro
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13Piazzolla: Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas: 4. Invierno Porteña (Winter)
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14Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.4 in F minor, RV297 ‘L’inverno’ (Winter): 1. Allegro non molto
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15Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.4 in F minor, RV297 ‘L’inverno’ (Winter): 2. Largo
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16Vivaldi: Le quattro stagioni – Concerto no.4 in F minor, RV297 ‘L’inverno’ (Winter): 3. Allegro
Europadisc Review
For her latest release Steinbacher visits one of the most recorded works in the repertoire, Vivaldi’s ubiquitous Four Seasons, coupling it (as other artists have increasingly done in recent years) with Ástor Piazzolla’s tango-infused Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. The programming might perhaps seem generic to those of a jaded outlook, but the performances, with Steinbacher directing the Münchener Kammerorchester from the violin, are so unfailingly musical and involving as to silence all criticism. Each Vivaldi concerto is preceded by the equivalent season from Piazzolla (Spring–Spring, Summer–Summer, etc.), but beyond that there is no fancy interleaving or trying to match northern and southern hemisphere seasons.
With the Piazzolla works, composed between 1965 and 1970, when they were eventually performed as a set, one of the main points of interest with this new recording is the arrangement, made specially for Steinbacher by Peter von Wienhardt, rather than the more widely used version by Leonid Desyatnikov. Wienhardt’s robust, earthy but also sophisticated scoring points up the many similarities between these works (especially in Spring to Autumn, less so with Winter) and the neoclassical Stravinsky. Bass lines are marvellously supportive but they also swing, while textures are vividly animated, and the solo violin really sings out. Aside from an insistently buzzing guiro at the opening of Summer, the scoring is exclusively for strings, but Steinbacher and her Munich colleagues bring out all the colour and soulfulness of the music with their depth and richness of tone, finely-honed dynamics and responsiveness to mood. Moments of dreamy abandon alternate with infectious, and sometimes explosive, nuevo tango inflections. The first section of Winter is particularly virtuosic, before eventually subsiding into gentle reverie.
Another strength of Wienhardt’s arrangement, and of Steinbacher’s performance, is that it doesn’t force the parallels with Vivaldi: intertwined as they are, each composer’s work stands on its own merits. The Vivaldi works themselves, which have been presented in ever more daring and audacious period or HIP recordings in recent years, here enjoy the benefit of exceptionally fine and fundamentally musical performances in the ‘modern’ style that was once the norm, enhanced by playing of exceptional finesse and sensitivity. There’s a harpsichord continuo (which weaves gentle arpeggios around the sustained string chords of Autumn’s slow movement), speeds are generally brisk, and textures are clear, but beyond that there is no HIP ‘posturing’. Instead, Steinbacher’s exceptional artistry and the refined support of the Munich band very much allow the music to make its own case.
There have been more brazenly descriptive performances of The Four Seasons on disc (the dog barks of the solo viola in the second movement of Spring, for example), but few such enjoyably musical ones. And, as the set progresses and the listener adjusts to this less-is-more approach, the illustrative aspects of the music seem to grow stronger: the exhausting heat and sudden storms of summer, the rustic revelry and thrill of the hunt in Autumn, the biting chill and fireside warmth of Winter. Complementing the Piazzolla perfectly, these are deeply rewarding performances that are likely to stand the test of time for those who appreciate high-quality playing in the modern manner. And, as always with Pentatone, they are matched by exceptionally fine recording, making this addition to a crowded catalogue and to Steinbacher’s ever-broadening repertoire particularly welcome.
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