Probably very few music lovers have ever put
on a couple of recordings of the Four Seasons and hit the
scramble button on their CD player, but, after all the times we’ve
heard this music, it could happen, and you’d get something of
the effect here. In addition to a straight through reading of
the movements in order by one or the other of the performers in
seemingly random order, we have an additional 11 performances
of just one movement of a concerto by itself by one of the performing
groups. In no case are all three movements of a single concerto
performed on the disk by the same artists.
Some of the individual performances are quite
good, and the most likely result of hearing and enjoying this
disk might be that you would seek out one or more of the complete
performances on disk.
As might be expected, Spivakov and von der Goltz
present traditional performances. Galway and Petri play traditionally
with just a switch of the solo instrument. These are perfectly
acceptable in a traditional sense. The single movement contribution
by the Silvermans is synthesised and modernised all out of shape;
nothing of value here. The Amsterdam Guitar Trio, having previously
reecorded an excellent set of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti, are
very disappointing here. Yamashita/Coryell are the most enjoyable
and creative of the arrangements, but as artists their individual
styles and backgrounds are so different that it is not surprising
that occasionally something clashes; however they do a nice job
on Winter II. Wilson and the mandolins are excellent in their
single movement contribution of Winter I. Goltz’ best appearance
is also in Winter I where the harp group serves as a very aggressive
continuo. The experience of this listening has made me want to
hear the Galway and Petri versions straight through, but maybe
not enough to actually pay for them. The Spivakov and Goltz versions
are revealed as worthy but not spectacular traditional versions
also. Nothing I have heard changes my view that the best Seasons
ever was performed by Jan Tomasow and I Solisti di Zagreb and
beautifully recorded by Vanguard at the very beginning of the
stereo era.
If you have almost every other version of the
Seasons, you’ll want this one, too. If money and space
are no obstacle, it might be worth having this disk just for tracks
10, 19, 22, with 5 as a shocker.
Paul Shoemaker
Vladimir Spivakov, violin,
and conducting the Moscow Virtuosi;