Description
Sony Classical: Vivaldi — The Four Seasons | Joshua Bell, Academy of St Martin in the Fields (Audio CD)
Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!
Product Details:
- Product Type: Audio CD
- Brand / Label: Sony Classical / Sony BMG Music Entertainment
- Composer: Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741); Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770)
- Soloist: Joshua Bell, violin
- Ensemble: Academy of St Martin in the Fields
- Harpsichord: John Constable
- Producer: Steven Epstein
- Release Year: 2008
- Genre: Classical
- Style: Baroque
- Catalog Number: 88697357052
- UPC / Barcode: 886973570524
- Condition: New / Factory Sealed
Product Features
- Format: CD
- Discs: 1
- Total tracks: 13
- Total runtime: 53 minutes 38 seconds
- Includes OpenDisc content
- Manufactured in: EU (LC 06868)
- Packaging: Standard jewel case, factory shrink-wrapped
Overview
The Four Seasons is the most-recorded piece in the classical catalogue. A new version has to justify its existence, and Joshua Bell's does — not by reinventing Vivaldi, but by playing him with an authority and warmth that most recordings in this repertoire can't quite sustain across all four concertos.
Bell leads the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from the violin, directing the ensemble as he plays — no separate conductor. The result is lean and responsive, with a natural flexibility in tempo and dynamics that comes from a soloist who is also driving the group. The Academy's string texture is full but never heavy; the continuo playing is clean.
The bonus track is the thing that sets this disc apart from the competition. Tartini's Sonata in G Minor — the "Devil's Trill Sonata" — rounds out the programme with a piece that is technically formidable and dramatically charged. It's a natural companion to Vivaldi's concertos, and Bell plays it with the same focused intensity he brings to the main work.
Produced by Steven Epstein and released on Sony Classical in 2008, this is a polished, well-balanced recording that holds up well in a crowded field. A reliable first choice for anyone wanting a modern-instrument Four Seasons on a major label.
Interesting Facts
- Joshua Bell was born in 1967 in Bloomington, Indiana, and made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 17; he has been Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields since 2011.
- In January 2007, Bell performed incognito as a busker at L'Enfant Plaza station in Washington D.C. — an experiment organized by The Washington Post that became one of the most discussed cultural events of that year.
- The violin Bell plays is a 1713 Stradivarius known as the "Gibson ex Huberman," valued at several million dollars.
- Tartini's "Devil's Trill Sonata" gets its name from a dream the composer reportedly described, in which the devil appeared and played a sonata of extraordinary beauty — Tartini claimed the piece he wrote upon waking was inferior to what he had heard.
- The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was founded in 1958 by Sir Neville Marriner and takes its name from the London church where it first performed; it is one of the most recorded chamber orchestras in history.
- Vivaldi's Four Seasons concertos, Op. 8 Nos. 1–4, were published in 1725 and are among the earliest examples of programme music — each concerto is accompanied by a sonnet describing the season it depicts.
Track Listing
Vivaldi — Le Quattro Stagioni / The Four Seasons, Op. 8 Nos. 1–4 1–3. Violin Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8 No. 1, "Spring" (RV 269) 4–6. Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8 No. 2, "Summer" (RV 315) 7–9. Violin Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8 No. 3, "Autumn" (RV 293) 10–12. Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8 No. 4, "Winter" (RV 297)
Tartini — Sonata in G Minor for Violin and Basso Continuo
- "Devil's Trill Sonata"
Publishers
Released by Sony BMG Music Entertainment / Sony Classical, 2008 (℗ & © 2008). Produced by Steven Epstein. Made in the EU. LC 06868. Distributed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
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