Description:
This recording achieves the Herculean task of rescuing Vivaldi's oft- performed concerti from the hackneyed oblivion of elevator music, and ingeniously resuscitating them in an arresting and enthralling manner. It as if the parched roots of these pieces have been watered with something rather bracing and slightly alcoholic, and suddenly shot into blooms of brilliant red and electric blue. Vanessa-Mae, her producer Pamela Nicholson, and the group of highly acclaimed soloists and professors which makes up the orchestra Laureate, have all contributed to these exciting arrangements. The starting premise was that Vivaldi w
This recording achieves the Herculean task of rescuing Vivaldi's oft- performed concerti from the hackneyed oblivion of elevator music, and ingeniously resuscitating them in an arresting and enthralling manner. It as if the parched roots of these pieces have been watered with something rather bracing and slightly alcoholic, and suddenly shot into blooms of brilliant red and electric blue. Vanessa-Mae, her producer Pamela Nicholson, and the group of highly acclaimed soloists and professors which makes up the orchestra Laureate, have all contributed to these exciting arrangements. The starting premise was that Vivaldi would have expected his soloists to embellish and elaborate the solo parts for themselves: on this recording that has meant fleshing out the orchestral parts so that they stretch the techniques of everyone involved, and turning the solo part itself into a Paganini-esque jeu d'esprit. (Following Sir Thomas Beecham's advice, who said that a harpsichord sounds like "skeletons copulating on a galvanised tin roof", that instrument has judiciously been omitted!) And the wonderful thing is that the programmatic sense of the seasons- - birds twittering, teeth chattering, hay-gathering etc--is not mocked, but reinforced. --Warwick Thompson
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Manufacturer: Angel Records
Release date: 9 March 1999
EAN: 0724349808225 UPC: 724349808225
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