Notes and Editorial Reviews
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VIVALDI
Violin Concertos,
op. 8/1–6:
The 4 Seasons
; “La tempesta di mare”; “Il piacere”
•
Cho-Liang Lin (vn); Anthony Newman (hpd, org); Sejong
•
NAXOS 8.557920 (Blu-ray audio: 55:11)
In
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style="font-style:italic">Fanfare
30:5, I reviewed Cho-Liang Lin’s readings of the first six concertos from Antonio Vivaldi’s set, op. 6, and suggested that “for those who wish not only to acquire a durable and unmannered, yet bracing and continuously interesting version of the
Four Seasons
, but also to set themselves up to explore the entire op. 8, Naxos’s recording could hardly be bettered.” I also recommended the set to specialists and, in fact, to everybody, “despite the hordes of robust alternatives.” And that’s about all that needs to be said about the performances. But now Naxos has reissued them, recorded at 24-bit, 88.2 kHz resolution, on a Blu-ray audio disc that offers the choice, in 24-bit, 96 kHz presentation, in either 5.1 DTS-HD or 2.0 PCM. There’s an improved sense of three-dimensional ambiance even in the 2.0 version, so the passagework, as in the third movement of “Spring,” hisses and spits and the contrasts in the first movement of “Summer” strike with hammer force.
I must confess that it took me a long time to warm to CD sound in violin music, and even now, analog LPs sometimes provide blessed relief (several years ago, I heard a collector’s old Mischa Elman performance of Henri Wieniawski’s
Souvenir de Moscou
on 78 through the horn of what had once been a high-end gramophone, and it sounded startlingly warm and lifelike). The problem arises for me because I’m usually listening close up and for extended periods of time to the higher registers of a reedy melodic instrument; the CD sampling rate of 44.1 kHz just doesn’t do it justice. Years ago, I compared Naxos’s earlier release of Vivaldi’s
Seasons
on CD and on DVD-audio, and the latter won hands down. SACD also provides an escape hatch from the edgy world of CD violins, but Blu-ray sounds smooth as silk.
A CD’s wide dynamic range and freedom from tape hiss mean less to me than bringing the violin’s emitted waveforms closer to their analog originals. I’ve discussed this problem with one of
Fanfare
’s sound gurus, who seemed able to feel my pain. Violin dealers, eager to capture the truest sound image of the masterpieces of lutherie that cross their thresholds, also experience the dilemma and themselves pursue forward-looking solutions for improving resolution. But they don’t listen all day, and I … well, I do. And I confess, CD violins fatigue the ear. I’ve taped violins and performances live and, after listening to the tapes, have marveled at how faithful they sound overall. Then, after transferring them the best way I thought I could and concluding that they sounded satisfactory that way, too, would invariably be shocked (hope springs eternal) at how abrasive the violin sounded in the CD format, compared not only to the original source, but to the analog tape—even after employing technology to smooth the curve.
The Naxos Blu-ray will be the third violin Blu-ray I’ve studied, and I’ve been uniformly impressed. How does the violin sound? Any improvement in definition enhances Cho-Liang Lin’s elegant tone production, but he sounds very sweet here. Of course, that can gauged only in the upper registers; Baroque composers largely avoided their thick G string’s balky lower notes. But you could listen to this kind of violin tone for a long, long time, and for me, that’s heaven. Strongly recommended.
FANFARE: Robert Maxham
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Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Violin in E major, Op. 8 no 1/RV 269 "Primavera" by Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Anthony Newman (Harpsichord),
Lin Cho-Liang (Violin),
Anthony Newman (Portative organ)
Conductor:
Anthony Newman
Orchestra/Ensemble:
International Sejong Soloists
Period: Baroque
Written: circa 1725; Venice, Italy
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, New York City
Length: 9 Minutes 49 Secs.
Notes: Holy Trinity Church, New York City (09/06/2005 - 09/09/2005)
2.
Concerto for Violin in G minor, Op. 8 no 2/RV 315 "L'estate" by Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Anthony Newman (Harpsichord),
Lin Cho-Liang (Violin),
Anthony Newman (Portative organ)
Conductor:
Anthony Newman
Orchestra/Ensemble:
International Sejong Soloists
Period: Baroque
Written: 1725; Venice, Italy
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, New York City
Length: 9 Minutes 58 Secs.
Notes: Holy Trinity Church, New York City (09/06/2005 - 09/09/2005)
3.
Concerto for Violin in F major, Op. 8 no 3/RV 293 "L'autunno" by Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Anthony Newman (Portative organ),
Lin Cho-Liang (Violin),
Anthony Newman (Harpsichord)
Conductor:
Anthony Newman
Orchestra/Ensemble:
International Sejong Soloists
Period: Baroque
Written: 1725; Venice, Italy
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, New York City
Length: 10 Minutes 19 Secs.
Notes: Holy Trinity Church, New York City (09/06/2005 - 09/09/2005)
4.
Concerto for Violin in F minor, Op. 8 no 4/RV 297 "L'inverno" by Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Lin Cho-Liang (Violin),
Anthony Newman (Harpsichord),
Anthony Newman (Portative organ)
Conductor:
Anthony Newman
Orchestra/Ensemble:
International Sejong Soloists
Period: Baroque
Written: 1725; Venice, Italy
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, New York City
Length: 8 Minutes 34 Secs.
Notes: Holy Trinity Church, New York City (09/06/2005 - 09/09/2005)
5.
Concerto for Violin in E flat major, Op. 8 no 5/RV 253 "La tempesta di mare" by Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Anthony Newman (Portative organ),
Lin Cho-Liang (Violin),
Anthony Newman (Harpsichord)
Conductor:
Anthony Newman
Orchestra/Ensemble:
International Sejong Soloists
Period: Baroque
Written: 1725; Venice, Italy
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, New York City
Length: 8 Minutes 24 Secs.
Notes: Holy Trinity Church, New York City (09/06/2005 - 09/09/2005)
6.
Concerto for Violin in C major, Op. 8 no 6/RV 180 "Il piacere" by Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Anthony Newman (Harpsichord),
Lin Cho-Liang (Violin),
Anthony Newman (Portative organ)
Conductor:
Anthony Newman
Orchestra/Ensemble:
International Sejong Soloists
Period: Baroque
Written: 1725; Venice, Italy
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, New York City
Length: 8 Minutes 8 Secs.
Notes: Holy Trinity Church, New York City (09/06/2005 - 09/09/2005)
7.
Concertos (4) for Violin, Op. 8 no 1-4 "Four seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi
Performer:
Lin Cho-Liang (Violin),
Anthony Newman (Harpsichord),
Anthony Newman (Portative organ)
Conductor:
Anthony Newman
Orchestra/Ensemble:
International Sejong Soloists
Period: Baroque
Written: 1725; Venice, Italy
Venue: Holy Trinity Church, New York City
Notes: Holy Trinity Church, New York City (09/06/2005 - 09/09/2005)
Sound Samples
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in E major, Op. 8, No. 1, RV 269, "La primavera" (Spring): I. Allegro
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in E major, Op. 8, No. 1, RV 269, "La primavera" (Spring): II. Largo
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in E major, Op. 8, No. 1, RV 269, "La primavera" (Spring): III. Allegro
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 8, No. 2, RV 315, "L'estate" (Summer): I. Allegro non molto
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 8, No. 2, RV 315, "L'estate" (Summer): II. Adagio - Presto
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 8, No. 2, RV 315, "L'estate" (Summer): III. Presto
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in F major, Op. 8, No. 3, RV 293, "L'autunno" (Autumn): I. Allegro
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in F major, Op. 8, No. 3, RV 293, "L'autunno" (Autumn): II. Adagio
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in F major, Op. 8, No. 3, RV 293, "L'autunno" (Autumn): III. Allegro
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in F minor, Op. 8, No. 4, RV 297, "L'inverno" (Winter): I. Allegro non molto
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in F minor, Op. 8, No. 4, RV 297, "L'inverno" (Winter): II. Largo
The 4 Seasons: Violin Concerto in F minor, Op. 8, No. 4, RV 297, "L'inverno" (Winter): III. Allegro
Violin Concerto in E flat major, Op. 8, No. 5, RV 253, "La tempesta di mare": I. Presto
Violin Concerto in E flat major, Op. 8, No. 5, RV 253, "La tempesta di mare": II. Largo
Violin Concerto in E flat major, Op. 8, No. 5, RV 253, "La tempesta di mare": III. Presto
Violin Concerto in C major, Op. 8, No. 6, RV 180, "Il piacere": I. Allegro
Violin Concerto in C major, Op. 8, No. 6, RV 180, "Il piacere": II. Largo e cantabile
Violin Concerto in C major, Op. 8, No. 6, RV 180, "Il piacere": III. Allegro
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