Vivaldi: The Four Seasons - Orpheus Chamber Orch., Shaham

Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Gil Shaham
DG 439 933-2

Besides being my favorite recording of The Four Seasons this release also includes Shaham's take on Kreisler's highly recommendable "Concerto for Violin in the style of Vivaldi".

The early decades of this century were the heyday of the purveyor of pastiche masquerading as the genuine article and, in Sir Henry Wood's case, the pseudonymic arranger; Kreisler was perhaps the prime example of the former. Their motives were diverse: the annotator of the present disc states that Kreisler "found himself short of repertoire for celebrity recitals", and that, as little baroque music was then available (1905) and Kreisler was too "notoriously indolent" to search the archives, he chose to write some himself! His 'Vivaldi' Concerto, at first presented as genuine, is so unlike the music of its eponym that, even in those dark days, it is little wonder that the critics smelled a rat. The touching Andante doloroso has something of the ethos of an aria-like slow movement of Vivaldi, but there any resemblance ends. Forget Vivaldi, just take the concerto for what it is, a pleasing and skilfully written work in its own right.

There are a huge number of recordings of The Four Seasons currently available and whilst it is impossible to nominate any one as clearly the best it is safe to say that Shaham's represents a middleof-the-road 'vintage year', recorded in his own twenty-third one. His musical maturity, secure technique and purity of tone have been the subject of previous comment, as have the precision, responsiveness (to one another, since they have no conductor) and life-enhancing qualities of' the OCO; put the two together and you have a performance that is as fresh-sounding and sharply, but not theatrically, characterized as any in its category. Youth, extraordinary talent and clearsighted imagination have their day. With the unusual bonus of the Kreisler Concerto it deserves a place on anyone's shelf, whatever else may already be there. Recording and annotation are praiseworthy.

JD, Gramophone Magazine