Search - Antonio Vivaldi, I Solisti di Zagreb, Musici di San Marco :: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

My version of the Four Seasons

Judy K. Polhemus | LA | 06/13/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I Solist di Zagreb, a chamber group originally from Croatia, performs this 1997 Point Classic version of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons." It is what the grouping of these four pieces of music should sound. Why? Because it is my first listening, therefore what comes to mind.



Is it the only version? I should say not! Right here on Amazon, you can purchase, well, I stopped counting at 44 versions of these concertos. Why have so many orchestras recorded so many versions?



Once, long ago and (it seems) far away, I taught a fine arts survey course that included music as a component. I invited our local symphony's conductor (at the time) to come talk to my class about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. He played three versions of the first movement, each so distinctively different from my recording already played for students. My version was by Bruno Walter.



The ones our local conductor played and talked about were Wilhelm Furtwangler, Arturo Toscanini, and George Szell. It was a great lesson in interpretation by conductor interacting with the music and music maker and then contributions by master musicians as they recorded. So explained the conductor. As part of his lesson, he related a story of his babysitter. He asked why her parents weren't going to the symphony performance that night (he was conducting). She replied, "They've already been to that symphony." Of course, to our conductor (who now works in Germany), such a response was silly. Each interpretation is a work in its own right.



So! My recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons is my favorite. I am open to more versions. But first some background on I Solisti de Zagreb.



From Wikipedia: "The Zagreb Soloists (Croatian: Zagrebaki solisti) is a chamber orchestra founded in Zagreb, Croatia, in 1953 through the auspices of Zagreb Radio/television, under the artistic leadership of the Italian cellist and conductor, Antonio Janigro. After Janigro left the ensemble in 1968, the group was led first by their concertmaster, Dragutin Hrdjok, and then by their longtime artistic director and concertmaster, Tonko Nini. In 1997, Anelko Krpan became concertmaster, and in 2002, Karlo Slobodan Fio took over as artistic director of the ensemble. Since 2006, the concertmaster and artistic leader has been Borivoj Martinic-Jercic.



"I Solisti di Zagreb have given over 3,000 concerts in all parts of the world, and are also very well-known for their numerous recordings." Web address in Comments.



An interesting component of this particular recording is the information that Vivaldi wrote four sonnets, each representing one season. These sonnets are included in the notes. And, of course, I would be remiss if I didn't conclude with the fact that Vivaldi was called "Il prete rosso" (Vivaldi had long red hair).



Thanks to GB for the idea for this review!"