Two January 2025 Releases of Vivaldi's Four Seasons
We need another Four Seasons review like we need another recording of the Four Seasons. I am caught as to why new recordings of this collection of concertos keeps getting released. It’s not that the concertos, the first four of Vivaldi’s eighth opus are bad works. In the notes for both of these recordings the violinists both talk about their history with the concertos and their desire to put them out for the world to hear, more or less.
What I don’t understand from the business perspective is how crowding the marketplace with even more renditions of the same four concertos produces value for those making these discs (and streaming the tracks, of course, as well). The continual renditions that come before us often have an angle that’s used to set them apart from the others. The ingenuity that musicians will use to dress these works differently to me is a positive thing, one for which we should be happy to indulge. Yet, with less popular fodder? We rarely see musicians exercising their ability to dress those as well. And that should happen, and not because the marketplace is overly-crowded, but because it's of benefit to those listening.
I trace this trend back to the 1990 release of Nigel Kennedy’s version which at the time was something of a revelation in that the violinist took on the ghost of Jimi Hendrix to his violin, well, no, but you get the idea: he did some wild things that no one before had dared do. And after that, the parade of imitators followed.
(To be sure, Kennedy’s last rendition of the Four Seasons went even further, integrating extramusical sounds into the fully arranged music.)
To show the popularity of these works and how real the continual release of these four concertos is, these two recordings came out in the same week!
- Daniel Pioro/Manchester Camerata (53 minutes) with Michael Morpungo, voice.
- Théotime Langlois de Swarte/Orchestra Le Consort (91 minutes)
Both albums feature a period sound, however Pioro and the Manchester Camerata play on modern instruments (a harpsichord is used, however), while Le Consort, in its expanded orchestral format, is a period ensemble. I first noticed the Consort album and decided it didn’t merit a review. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good, but I like highlighting less familiar music on this site. However when a friend sent me notice of the Pioro album, I felt compelled to listen to it, as if I needed to say something about it. He hadn’t shared why he sent it, or if it was good or bad. I anticipated he wanted my take.
I ultimately decided to write this review because:
- If the public really wants another take on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons then I might as well join the gravy train and get the clicks back to my site;
- The comparison of these two recordings may make for an interesting discourse on the current state of Four Seasons performances; and
- I wanted to see if a clear “winner” might emerge from these two recordings, for one reason or another. The bounty of two recordings of the same works seems rather luxurious, but then again, there’s only so much time in the day. Which one would I grab, if the plane’s engines had already started, ready to take me to a presumed desert island oasis?
The Angle for Each Recording
What I call the “angle” is the approach each ensemble has taken to set their album apart in a crowded marketplace. Le Consort presents additional musical material, including Vivaldi concertos, a vocal piece, a chamber piece by another Venetian composer Gregorio Lamranzi, and some singleton tracks borrowed from Vivaldi pieces. The album ends with a single movement from a composer named Giorgio Gentilli.
The angle, then, I think for them is to “gild the lily” by providing, well, bonus content. And in so doing they could have recorded the entire opus 8, but instead chose music that the public will be less familiar with. Whenever you see the collaboration with Olivier Fourès, be ready for some arrangements drawn from his research into Vivaldi’s oeuvre.
The Pioro album starts with recording poetry, in English, newly created, providing musicians and listeners alike some context for the tone painting Vivaldi was attempting in his music writing. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this; the recent recording by Jordi Savall presents the concertos twice, once with the reading of Vivaldi's poetry (in Italian) over the music, and then thankfully, they present the music again by itself. In this case, I am not sure what value this provides, or why the original poetry was not used. This recording places the music in the background, with trite quotations. I can see the utility of having the poetry read at a concert, or even presenting it in the booklet. But to me, just recording it seems like a gimmick. (For sure, both albums include poetry in their respective booklets).
Thankfully, Pioro has more up his sleeve. He plays a bit with the musical text, and comes across as a master of varied articulation. I’ll admit he’s a new name to me but he’s no slouch; he’s a strong player and changes just enough with the text, between his own part and the orchestra’s, that those very familiar with the works will find fancy in these changes.
Le Consort - Théotime Langlois de Swarte
De Swarte is a fixture not only with this collaboration with Justin Taylor (keyboard) and Sophie de Bardonnèche (violin) as artistic directors of Le Consort, but also as lead violinist now with William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants. With them, he has already recorded a Vivaldi album. And on the heels of this recording on Harmonia Mundi, he’s made another recording released this week with their house-cellist, Hanna Salezenstein on the Mirare label. It would be easy to say that the man is on a Vivaldi kick!
The sound in this recording is generous, with a good presentation of the lower frequencies which sometimes I find lacking. There seems to be just the right amount of reverb to give the expanded version of Le Consort the illusion of size. The soloist rides on top with close miking, giving us the illusion of being closer and more intimate with us. The effect may not be altogether natural, but it works well I think here to serve the music, more so in the inner and other slower, softer movements.
Le Consort pull out all the punches using organ, harpsichord, and a bass lute to provide foundational support. I remember reading some time ago that Vivaldi did use organ in his own performances of the works. Balance becomes a concern in spots; in the third movement of Summer, de Swarte’s sound gets overtaken by the orchestral forces, wherein the preceding track he’s clearly in front with a spotlight.
De Swarte is a strong player, as I found in his previous album of Vivaldi, but there’s something missing for me in this album, specifically with the Four Seasons. Both his solo contributions and directing efforts has made a perfectly nice album, very well played, technically sure. It’s the kind of performance, I think, that would get full credit from their professors and mentors in school. What’s missing is the desire or need to try and be different. It’s as if they aren’t going to play games and try to do weird and bizarre things with these concertos to allow the album to stand out. We can compare the barking dog in the middle movement of Spring with Pioro; for de Swarte, the barking dog (rendered by the viola) is pronounced, but not overly so, to the point done in Il Giardino Armonico’s recording, featuring Enrico Onofri as soloist. Pioro’s rendition hardly evokes the bark at all, muting the effect, politely, as we were well used to before musicians decided to exploit this barking evocation to its very literal extent.
This album shines because I think the orchestral support is good; the texture with the continuo and ability for the group to get truly loud is exciting. As far as HIPP recordings go, this ensemble sounds rich and full rather than anemic. But I found de Swarte’s performances consistently too tame for this music. He may have historical authenticity on his side, but then again, there are so many recordings of this piece and his contributions as the soloist are tame, sometimes in the slower movements too straightforward, and lack the kind of imagination I’d want to, well, surprise me. As the listener, I know this music has the ability to move me more so than I experienced with it over the past week.
And that’s fine if that’s their position—let’s not turn to histrionics. Instead, we’ll play it sensitively and with our vision of the type of performance one might have expected in Vivaldi’s heyday.
The other works on the album are equally well-performed. Of special note is the string concerto, RV 155. A short, four-movement work, this likely was used as an introduction to an operatic or religious work. While Vivaldi penned these as “concertos,” we might better think of them as short “sinfonias.” The Danze da Nova e curiosa scuola de’ balli teatrali by Lambranzi is an interesting work, here presented across 10 tracks.
De Swarte writes:
In keeping with this idea of ‘playing’ with the cycle of the seasons, we wanted to extend the experience by exploring other works by Vivaldi that exploit the same symbolic use of tonality. Hence the aria ‘Nulla in mundo pax sincera’, sung by Julie Roset in E major, the key of ‘Spring’, initiates before the Concerto RV 264 a moment of renewal following the F minor of the previous concerto (‘There is no genuine peace in the world’), thus reinforcing the notion of a perpetual cycle. The Concerto RV 155, in the G minor of ‘Summer,’ presents a progression rich in contrasts, beginning with a prelude of well-nigh liturgical import, before moving on to a quotation from the Concerto La tempesta di mare (RV 253, op.8 no.5) and ending with a dancing, almost impish Allegro.
Manchester Camerata - Daniel Pioro
I started my comparisons by cueing the middle movement of Summer for both recordings; in this recording Pioro is louder, playing a bit more extravagantly, playing with Vivaldi’s solo line a bit. Hear how he ends the movement? That’s different! For me, sets anticipation of the fire and heat we get in the third movement.
There’s no comparison for me in the quality of the recording between these two—the Orchestre Le Consort is the far better sounding album sonically. But which one is more exciting? Clearly to my ears, Pioro’s contributions as soloist have more grip and the recording puts him clearly out front, the soloist, for sure, in both the softer slow movements and the fast and loud. The bass support and texture from Le Consort’s recording is missing in some parts (but guitar is audible in the third movement of Spring), but the soloist? He comes armed with some plays tucked up his sleeves that ultimately hooked me. Listen to his treatment of the material in the opening movement of Autumn, or the middle movement of Winter.
Yes, he’s likely doing these things to differentiate his recording with those that came before it. But it also speaks to the soloist’s role in moving the audience. We’ve heard the comparison too many times already between jazz and baroque music. Both soloists made this music their own, but Pioro is far more deliberate about doing so.
Pioro writes:
I feel like Vivaldi, who I gather would improvise freely within his own understanding of what the violin can be, gives me permission as a violinist. I’m allowed to have my “Turkish garden with ferns and spiced coffee”moment at the end of the third movement of Spring. I allow myself to have a little fantasy.
The Desert Island
As you might expect, I get asked often by friends about which Four Seasons album is my favorite. Like a rolodex in my mind, I see various album covers flip in front of me, from the violin breaking apart on the aforementioned Onofri recording, to Kennedy’s interesting haircut on his release with the English Chamber Orchestra, to the portrait of Monica Huggett on the cover of my very first purchased album, playing with Timothy Kraemer’s Raglan Baroque Players. Hogwood gave the solo honors to four different soloists in his release, and I can still remember the direct sound and polished playing of Pinnock’s release featuring Simon Standage. Or who could forget the Singaporean Vanessa-Mae, with her recording of the so-called “Original Four Seasons” which was nothing but, using an arranged score with the chamber ensemble called Laureate. Of more recent vintage, I see Leila Schayegh holding her violin like a platter, Janine Jansen about to drop her violin, chillaxing in a comfortable chair, or the bright smile of young Christian Li, playing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. But I skip all of these and have named, often enough, the second recording with Europa Galante, featuring all of Vivaldi’s opus 8, on Virgin Veritas (today, Erato). It was fresh, direct, and historically-informed.
And that’s the thing—some of these performers not only recorded the Seasons, but they did so multiple times! “Let me try again!” But I posed a question at the start of this review, suggesting that I could frame these two new recordings into which I’d want to bring with me, if I could snatch only one?
Pioro’s offers a more imaginative solo, and while I give him credit, he too pulls in his band to play along with his manipulations of the familiar score. De Swarte’s recording offers us a more audiophile experience, with a better recorded sound, but an approach from the soloist that while technically assured, lacks the imagination that I, a listener in 2025, craves.
I do respect Le Consort’s decision not to sully Vivaldi’s writing with too much of their own inventive ideas, well, just to be different. But I also respect Pioro’s ability to tease and please us with his contributions.
My ultimate hope is that more ensembles take Pioro’s spirit in what he’s done and expand it to every performance. While it does have an historical basis, the extent of the virtuoso’s own voice in the music of another composer isn’t documented to the extent that today’s musicians can authoritatively adapt a lost performance style. HIPP is designed to take us there, but like religion, you don’t always get answers, you turn to your faith.
Vivaldi and his like might think it strange that today there exist so many recordings of his Seasons, including those by a brass ensemble from Canada (I think the Canadian Brass’ rendition was the second copy I’d purchased!). His own writing of so many concertos suggests there was an appetite during his time for novelty and newness. And as a performing musician, he’d have had the authority to improvise, change, and modify what he’d penned as much as he’d pleased. No one in the audience was likely to know, unless they’d had a great musical memory and access to his published score weeks or months later.
Yes, today’s musicians seeking to put out a Seasons recording have nearly exhausted the tricks to make their release stand out. While any recording can grow tired on repeated listens, especially so when they attempt to toss novelties into our ears, I’m afraid I’d look to the performance among these two by Daniel Pioro as an ultimately more satisfying Seasons.
Those looking for value and additional music would well turn to de Swarte. When, and if I get home from my island oasis, I’ll be ready to hang them both up and re-visit my favorite Biondi.
Needless to say, I'd give props to the Harmonia Mundi team, who made an excellent sounding recording at L'Arsenal in Metz. Yet, for the sake of comparison, I'd give de Swarte three and a half stars, and Pioro four, for his original contributions.
