Some of the great masterworks of the baroque period have long
been subject of a diverse array of transcriptions by later composers
- Bach’s Art of Fugue, for example, has been rearranged
for string quartet, wind band, viols, and even accordion ensembles.
Bach himself performed keyboard arrangements of Vivaldi concerti,
and Busoni followed quite literally in the master’s footsteps
by reworking Bach for the piano. Now we have a brand new entry
into this tradition, but unfortunately it does not live up to
its pedigree. I am not entirely sure why we need a solo piano
version of Vivaldi’s legendary Four Seasons when the original
is so universally beloved, but Jeffrey Biegel, a pianist who
has made several commendable CDs for Naxos in the past, has supplied
us with one and performs it himself on a new disc. Apparently
Biegel based his performance on a previously-published arrangement
for solo piano, making his own additions and embellishments along
the way. Even with these changes the transcription is not particularly
imaginative, however, so that although this Four Seasons album
is valuable as a curiosity, most listeners will find themselves
hungering for the vastly more expressive originals.
Biegel’s reworking of the Seasons for solo piano is extremely
straightforward - probably too much so. There is very little
ornamentation in the baroque style, as one might hear in a period-practice
performance, and the few attempts Biegel makes often sound like
wrong notes. The solo violin part is transcribed into the piano’s
upper registers, the accompaniment given to the left hand, and
the writing and playing conspire to keep surprises to an absolute
minimum. Maybe a lack of imagination in the transcription process
is a good sign in one sense - why would you want to mess with
Vivaldi? - but I also think that it creates this album’s
main problem, which is that, in the absence of any really compelling
piano writing, all that we can do as listeners is recall how
wonderful the original version was. This Four Seasons is like
a shadow of the one we know and love, a mere teaser for the real
thing.
As for the playing itself - Biegel is honest and direct in his
pianism, though not exactly perfect technically. There are some
very clear missteps in Summer’s thunderstorm and the opening
movement of Autumn, among other places. With music this familiar,
the miscues are rather hard to ignore.
In Biegel’s hands some of the seasons sound an awful lot
like romantic-era miniatures - the slow movement of Spring and
beginning of Summer, for instance, sound like gentle sketches
from the notebook of Moritz Moszkowski or Anton Rubinstein. (The
famous “barking dogs,” in the second movement of
Spring, have here been spayed and neutered.) Biegel’s tone
is clear and elegant, even when his romantic view results in
a little too much delicacy or schmaltz. The disc would be almost
perfect background music for sipping on wine at a social occasion
and remarking to your conversation partners just how refreshing
you always find Vivaldi’s music.
I do think Biegel’s transcription is interesting in one
sense. In the nineteenth century, when recordings did not exist
and concerts were not open to everyone, most listeners were exposed
to music for the first time by piano transcriptions. For instance,
Brahms personally arranged his symphonies for piano four-hands,
allowing talented amateurs in the comfort of their own homes
to discover the latest orchestral masterworks. Amateur pianists
today will likely be interested in Biegel’s transcriptions
because it will allow them, too, to play Vivaldi’s great
masterwork without stretching their technical skills too far.
This CD is almost an advertisement for the transcription, offering
amateur players everywhere the opportunity to play the Seasons
at home like piano players a century ago might have performed
Brahms’ latest for their families. The problem is that
we no longer live in an age where recordings are hard or impossible
to find. I think we can congratulate hobby piano players on their
good fortune on this elegant, simple, charmingly romanticized
transcription of the Four Seasons for their instrument. As a
listener, however, I do not see any special reward in this work.
As I listen to Biegel delicately dance through these concerti
- in wonderfully intimate sound, by the way - I can’t help
yearning for the bracing sound of a baroque ensemble, the thrilling
risk-taking of soloists working in the period style, and the
big-hearted tone of the solo violin.
Naxos already has a superb recording of the Four Seasons in its
original form, with superstar violinist Cho-Liang Lin joining
the chamber group Sejong. (The disc has other stars, too: veteran
Anthony Newman is on hand to play harpsichord, and one of the
Sejong players is violinist Adele Anthony, wife of Gil Shaham
and a superb performer in her own right.) If you have that recording,
or indeed any good performance of Vivaldi’s signature work,
you will likely find yourself returning to it with new appreciation
after hearing this one. Pianists will perhaps find this transcription
appealing, but I suspect that even some reasonably creative hobby
performers could do a more creative job than Biegel has.
The filler works on this disc are perhaps emblematic of its problem:
a mandolin concerto, the opening of which sounds unhappily similar
to a joke by P.D.Q. Bach, and a very appealing lute concerto.
I have heard neither work before, but now I have an irresistible
urge to find them in their original forms. It is likely that
once I do there will be little or no need for me to return to
this workmanlike reduction. Useful, perhaps, and an intriguing
return to a forgotten era of piano transcription for home entertainment,
but most listeners will find this album uninspiring.
Brian Reinhart
Jeffrey Biegel (piano) 
