Sorting through boxes of secondhand LPs in the spare room and found two more versions of The Four Seasons.

I Musici on Philips
La Petite Bande, Kuijken

The I Musici is highly rated IIRC.

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Sept 10, 2019 17:08:14 GMT 12 foveaux said:

Sept 10, 2019 15:57:39 GMT 12 Citroen said:

"the best-selling classical work of all time and has sold in excess of two million copies"

What version do you recommend michaelw ?

Kia ora Citroen
If you don't have this 'version', have a listen to it from the usual on-line sampling sites:



Recommended, 

Got this about a year ago and inspired by RdM's recent post giving it a spin.

You can (perhaps just have a chance to) enjoy a performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons here in Auckland tomorrow night.
Candlelit, even. Fri. 23 July 2021.

feverup.com/m/88690

Looks to be the same venue as the HiFi club, at 130 Remuera Road, Remuera, Auckland.

Or maybe rather in the church itself rather than ancillary buildings.

Edit: I'd love to go, but according to the FAQs,

"Are face masks mandatory?

Attendees will be required to wear a mask to enter and at all times during the event. If F&B is available at the event, you will be required to keep your mask on unless actively eating or drinking.

Please note that for the security of attendees all candles will be flameless."

If that's true for that event, and not just out of date prior level freakout info, then I won't go after all.

But maybe it's out of date. I mean, it's not public transport. We're in level one, blah blah blah. Surely the web faq page is out of date and we can just attend?

It's been a long time since I heard it live, and that was in Pitt St Auckland when the Kammerensemble Cologne played in the church there.

I bought this CD at the table, but unfortunately lost it some years later, via a friends place.

Well, a gathering place. I'd love to get it back. I'd buy another copy, but not easy to find.

The red haired (like Vivaldi?) violinist was indeed playing a Stradivarius, and in the intermission (there was other music too) I spotted him having a cigarette outside.
Much as when I saw Jethro Tull Auckland Town Hall, early '70s, energetically play the whole of "Thick As A Brick", dancing around the stage, and then come on stage in the intermission to ostentatiously smoke a cigarette.

Just to show you that it wasn't as bad as the pharma funded anti-tobacco propaganda would have you believe. Well, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it ;=})

Meanwhile, there are so many other versions of the Four Seasons.

Years back, I found a guy who had made it his mission to collect every variant he could find, and he was up to over 400, I think German or European anyway - I made contact, but he didn't have the above one.

Sadly, not only do I no longer have it either;- I can't find any old link to his listing. I'll keep looking, But search engines change, what was there once may be there no longer. One must save if one can.

One LP I have



The rest are on flac.

Some other versions

A Polish orchestra with an all valve ahem tube recording system:


_

Il Tempio Armonico/Davide Monti/Alberto Rasi - Vivaldi: 4 Seasons of Love (2010)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time - 52:59 minutes | 1,04 GB
Official Digital Download - Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet

Il Tempio Armonico rediscovers the deepest essence of The Four Seasons with a performance based on the original manuscripts and carried out 'a parti reali', with arpa doppia and harpsichord as continuo. The outcome is a performance that succeeds in giving back the original freshness, charm and grace of Vivaldi’s masterpiece.


_



5 recorders, they made a bass recorder (in C ) for the project.
_

And then, weirdly, Richard Galliano on accordion:

www.discogs.com/Richard-Galliano-Vivaldi/release/5391767

Winter:


_

There's all sorts out there!

For Liszt fans the Sonata in b minor played on violin :-> (score pages on the ipad are turned with a foot pedal.)

Jul 22, 2021 22:59:29 GMT 12 RdM said:

Some other versions

A Polish orchestra with an all valve ahem tube recording system:


_

Il Tempio Armonico/Davide Monti/Alberto Rasi - Vivaldi: 4 Seasons of Love (2010)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time - 52:59 minutes | 1,04 GB
Official Digital Download - Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet

Il Tempio Armonico rediscovers the deepest essence of The Four Seasons with a performance based on the original manuscripts and carried out 'a parti reali', with arpa doppia and harpsichord as continuo. The outcome is a performance that succeeds in giving back the original freshness, charm and grace of Vivaldi’s masterpiece.


_



5 recorders, they made a bass recorder (in C ) for the project.
_

And then, weirdly, Richard Galliano on accordion:

www.discogs.com/Richard-Galliano-Vivaldi/release/5391767

Winter:


_

There's all sorts out there!

That accordion version is just plain weird!

Jul 23, 2021 17:59:29 GMT 12 Citroen said:

Jul 22, 2021 22:59:29 GMT 12 RdM said:

That accordion version is just plain weird!

I agree;- I almost regretted posting it, after trying to listen to it later!

But then there's another twist with (what I think is) a bandoneon, on Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (Las cuatro estaciones porteñas).

(I'm a bit of a bandoneon fan after discovering Dino Saluzzi in the late 80's early 90's. I have about 3 ECM LP's of his - there are more.)

Anyway, that's in this Guardian link to alternate versions, but I think on a brief glance my favourite is the Spanish electric guitar version, and the YouTube sidebar portends even more!

Tango, dance and shred guitars: five best takes on Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Jazz pianist Bruno Heinen has collaborated with Camerata Alma Viva for a new take on one of the most instantly recognisable classical works of all time.

He picks his five favourite versions of Vivaldi’s famous composition

I look forward to hearing more from them! ;=})

JS Bach was a favourite of mine while studying.

This was supposed to be the best sort of music to open the mind and to absorb information.

Brandenburg Concertos.

Jul 22, 2021 22:59:29 GMT 12 RdM said:

Some other versions

A Polish orchestra with an all valve ahem tube recording system:

I'd buy that one for the cover  

Jul 26, 2021 15:57:58 GMT 12 Citroen said:

JS Bach was a favourite of mine while studying.

This was supposed to be the best sort of music to open the mind and to absorb information.

Brandenburg Concertos.

I think the first record I bought, in the 5th form, after having built out of a "tin" (thin galvanised sheet steel) chassis a Mullard 3-3, SE EL84 output, into Rola C8MX loudspeakers, initially into their own cardboard boxes until my Dad built a pair of speaker cabinets, with a Garrard SP25 MkI and Sonotone 9TAHC cartridge, was a Marble Arch recording of the Brandenburg Concertos. I used to make myself almost late for biking to school, unwilling to interrupt a track before it finished!

Might have been this one:

www.discogs.com/J-S-Bach-South-West-German-Chamber-Orchestra-Brandenburg-Concertos-Nos-12345-And-6/release/17499031

You're on the right track! So mathematical, &etc. I do have quite a lot of Bach (and a few of his sons) in my collection. Always good value to hear again. Regards! ;=})

Jul 26, 2021 17:15:30 GMT 12 michaelw said:

Jul 22, 2021 22:59:29 GMT 12 RdM said:

Some other versions

A Polish orchestra with an all valve ahem tube recording system:

I'd buy that one for the cover  

I wish I had a better resolution than 500x500 for it. I'd print it or otherwise send it.

On listening again, and I should again, it seems slightly bland to me. Maybe I do need to listen again.

Since we were in touch re CD sales, maybe I can send you a link so that you can decide for yourself.

Jul 26, 2021 15:57:58 GMT 12 Citroen said:

JS Bach was a favourite of mine while studying.

This was supposed to be the best sort of music to open the mind and to absorb information.

Citroen, and others, you might really enjoy and find informative this documentary which accompanied a CD set of Pieter Wispelwey playing JS Bach 6 Suites for solo cello.

However, there's a twist;- on the CD's, they are played with A=392 versus 'normal' A=440 (cycles per second).

Also with gut strings on the cello, although for the Oxford concert in the documentary the humidity was such that he had to use steel strings.

Nevertheless, there's a whole rational re 392 vs 440Hz, and elsewhere even conspiracy theories about why A=440, but not to go there now.

Pieter Wispelwey: JS Bach 6 Suites for Cello Solo (documentary)

Here's in addition just one track from the CDs where he is playing a cello with gut strings, and tuned to A=392 - apparently as it was at the time composed. So much darker!

I hope you all can discover the rest of them. ;=}))

JS Bach - Brandenburg Concertos

Late Baroque, pre classical.

Prefer the ECO, Leppard

I have several Bach BC LPs, I need to dig them out from alternate locations, but this box set to hand from the shelf above.
Actually I won't play it until I can clean it, intending the ultrasonic cleaner build, it has mould and dust, but a great box set!
Two Lp's and a 17 page booklet, not counting covers, etc. The price sticker says $5.00. Another great Op Shop score?

(the little widescreen monitor in the alcove an unfinished project, intending a PC in the stack with two video cards, ability to select music alternately to the smart TV/monitor display.)
A corner of the room behind the RH speaker.

Another Archiv Series Brandenburg but not the Richter as above

Jul 28, 2021 15:17:29 GMT 12 Citroen said:

Another Archiv Series Brandenburg but not the Richter as above

Interesting. Who is playing that? Well done on spotting the Richter in the original dark photos;- I've uploaded fresh daylight ones since.

Here are a few more I found digging through other shelves, some in another room:-

A 5 LP box set, in really good condition apart from some dust. A brief play shows just a few dust clicks and pops. Should clean up nicely.

Another odd pair that I haven't checked condition of:

Hamburg Chamber Orchestra - World Record Club (Mono)

Strangely I have ended up owning two sets of these two LPs. Mind you it's handy to have a few duplicates to compare turntables with in real time, I think.
Apart from cartridge loading issues, although they could be switched through two different phono preamps. I do have a few duplicate records, just a few, not very many, 5-6 perhaps?

I lost the original schoolboy Marble Arch decades ago. I traded the Mullard 3-3 to a school friend later too for I forget what. On reflection, it might have been in 6th form rather than 5th.

Cheers! Maybe now to move on to other baroque recordings and composers ;-)

Leader – August Wenzinger
Liner Notes – August Wenzinger, Fred Hamel*, Peter Wackernagel
Orchestra – Konzertgruppe Der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
Painting [Booklet, Page 2] – E. G. Haussmann*
Photography By [Booklet, Page 19] – Joan Bastanier, Bremen*
Producer – Dr. Fred Hamel
Recorded By – Heinrich Keilholz

I wrote earlier, above

"I think on a brief glance my favourite is the Spanish electric guitar version, and the YouTube sidebar portends even more!"

And here Sinfonity are playing the whole Four Seasons!

One might wonder what Vivaldi would have thought or made of an electric guitar version, and the tonality, timbre of it as a lead instrument, the slurring notes, witness the heavy metal looking dude standing up to play solos, but what's undeniable is that all these guys are playing this from memory, knowing the score, not needing paper on stands.

Oops, I take that back! In later movements they are using scores on stands. But not all of them, and the lead dude seems to know it by heart. One can almost hear a bit of Queen in some of it ... I fancy.

Those Turnabout/Vox records were like the Naxos of ye olde time vinyl world,

Often decent renderings of classical chestnuts by unknowns.

Jul 28, 2021 20:09:34 GMT 12 michaelw said:

Those Turnabout/Vox records were like the Naxos of ye olde time vinyl world,

Often decent renderings of classical chestnuts by unknowns.

Well thanks, Michael, for that encouragement. I just checked them out for the first time now. You're right, small print says Vox 1996 New York & etc.

The 2nd LP seems almost pristine, hardly played, sounds great! The first one seems more dusty. Oh for the upcoming ultrasonic cleaner, &or vacuum.

And they are solid records, they feel stiff in the hand, I don't know what weight. Stamper marks are properly stenciled typeface, not hand written.

The nice covers are printed on heavy stock too.

Used to see a lot of them in secondhand shops, usually US pressings.

Ditto early Nonesuch records.

Another bizarre Vivaldi 4 Seasons cover:=})



(Camera slightly askew - I corrected it for some later pics. (I remembered that an iPhone has a great level display next to the compass!)

It's the EMI release, and indeed marketed in NZ by EMI 1978, but not Quad. It's otherwise labelled World Record Club. Another one of Dad's.

www.discogs.com/Vivaldi-New-Koto-Ensemble-Of-Tokyo-Koto-Vivaldi-The-Four-Seasons/master/619409

Jul 28, 2021 20:09:34 GMT 12 michaelw said:

Those Turnabout/Vox records were like the Naxos of ye olde time vinyl world,

Often decent renderings of classical chestnuts by unknowns.

I found a couple more:- another Turnabout:

and Vox just as Vox.

and the covers on this series aren't too shabby either:

Vanguard had nice thick card sleeves too.

It's been nice feeling prompted to look through the collection, which I hadn't done for a long time. There are many more gems, I see.

But such variable quality in physical condition. Some are quite playable, but others really need a deep clean.

Jul 29, 2021 18:07:18 GMT 12 RdM said:

Jul 28, 2021 20:09:34 GMT 12 michaelw said:

Those Turnabout/Vox records were like the Naxos of ye olde time vinyl world,

Often decent renderings of classical chestnuts by unknowns.

I found a couple more:- another Turnabout:

and the covers on this series aren't too shabby either:

Academy of Ancient Music/Florelgium Series are almost always excellent.

Jul 28, 2021 22:01:19 GMT 12 michaelw said:

The nice covers are printed on heavy stock too.

Used to see a lot of them in secondhand shops, usually US pressings.

Ditto early Nonesuch records.

Some Nonesuch too:

Ooh, digital!

I have quite a few MHS Musical Heritage Society too.

This Telemann double album is really clean and plays beautifully:

(Albeit another "ooh, digital!" ;- )

Another Vanguard!

I was fortunate to get this. It's in pristine condition, and just playing it a bit now, at appropriate live volume, as suggested, it's great!

If you want to read the text, a right click to a new tab on the image should bring up the original full file size version.

Nice collection

Jul 29, 2021 21:20:54 GMT 12 michaelw said:

Nice collection

Thanks!