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Reviewer:
Charlotte Gardner Recorder players haven’t been too poorly served when it comes to concertos by Vivaldi, given that not only did he pen three for sopranino (the smallest and highest in pitch) and two for treble, but RV95, La pastorella, lists recorder as one of a number of possible solo instruments. Still, when his catchy tunes and perky rhythms sound so right on the instrument, who can blame Danish recorder player Bolette Roed for wishing to expand her instrument’s repertoire by taking on a clutch of the violin concertos? And all power to her for deciding to take on the most famous ones of the lot: The Four Seasons. Not just The Four Seasons, though. Instead, this is a generous 16-strong, twodisc affair splitting the four Four Seasons concertos between four seasons-themed groups, the other three concertos in each group selected for possessing similar qualities to the actual Four Seasons concerto in their set. So, for instance, the bright Spring in E sits in a group with L’amoroso, RV271, also in bright E major, Il rosignuolo, RV335a, with its birdy grace notes echoing Spring’s first movement, and RV257 echoing some of the same gestures heard in the thunderstorm episode of Spring’s first movement. Strangely, though, given the recorder’s capacity to mimic birdsong, the less successful translation among this particular set is Spring itself: first, we’ve lost the impact of the soloist’s sudden emergence from the ensemble texture at its first solo turn, because Roed plays from the start but unlike violin can’t blend in; and while that in itself perhaps isn’t a major loss when her colouring is as attractive and thoughtful as it is, these particular birdlike soloist’s figurations actually sound less avian on the recorder than they do on the violin. By contrast, the grace notes of Il rosignuolo translate very satisfyingly, and indeed the whole album feels a bit like a story of swings and roundabouts. On the downside, Summer’s storm lacks fizz and bite, as does the usually exhilarating Winter first movement, both times less because of Roed (in fact her dispatching of the storm’s pyrotechnic passagework is impressive) and more because of the generally dulcet, dignified and rather uniform ensemble sound from Arte dei Suonatori. On the upside, Winter’s central long-lined fireside idyll works very nicely, while one further start-to-finish highlight is Op 9 No 3 in G minor (and perhaps it’s no accident that this concerto was probably originally written for oboe, then adapted for violin). Creative? Yes. Pleasant? Yes. Absorbing? Sometimes. Essentially, a mixed bag in more ways than one. |
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