A Vivaldi album for all seasons

VIVALDI: "Il cimento dell`armonia e dell`inventione." Europa Galante; Fabio Biondi, violin, direction. Veritas 45465; 2 CDs.

Il cimento dell`armonia e dell`inventione - the contest between harmony and invention. Everybody knows this work - at least the first four of these 12 violin concertos - whether they know they know it or not. The first four concertos are known as "The Four Seasons."

It seems these four concertos have been played with just about every instrumental combination possible and also as solo works on everything from the organ to the harmonica. We`ve heard them played by smaller instrumental groups (for which they were originally meant to be played) and larger orchestral groups. We`ve heard them at the movies. A motion picture even used the same name: "The Four Seasons" (Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno et al).

The music is, of course, explicitly program music. We know that as soon as we read the names of its four movements: "Spring," "Summer," "Autumn," and "Winter" - and that`s exactly what they sound like - spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Europa Galante is the ideal size of a performing group for this work, and they play it splendidly. Solo violin/director Fabio Biondi plays the many moods of his solo role with warmth and beauty.

But there are eight other splendid concertos in "Il cimento dell`armonia e dell`inventione," so let me urge you not to let your overriding enthusiasm for "The Four Seasons" keep you from giving the other eight a thorough listening.

Yes, there is probably a plethora of fine recordings of "The Four Seasons." But this one is fine, too, and with it you get the full composition. And one more inducement here: The two-disc album, in splendid sound by the way, is offered at a two-for-one price.

SOR & GIULIANI: Fernando Sor - Five Short Pieces; Fantaisie, Op. 58; Six Lessons, Op. 31. Mauro Giuliani - Garyowen; 12 Waltzes, Op. 57; The Blue Bells of Scotland. David Starobin, guitar. Bridge Records 9107.

These two famous guitarists/composers, Fernando Sor, a Spaniard, and Mauro Giuliani, an Italian, were almost exact contemporaries, but they never met. Their style of playing was different; thier style of composition was different. But, as the notes with this album suggest, "the absence of a dialogue between the most authoritative representatives of the art of guitar performance during the first half of the 1800s is no argument against bringing together here, in one recording, some of their most outstanding works."

Indeed it is not. And to our happy benefit, Bridge Records has done so.

The artist is David Starobin. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award, and one of his recordings was voted Best Solo CD of 1999 at AFIM`s Indie Awards. He holds the Andres Segovia Chair at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. And he is the founder and president of Bridge Records Inc.

So, besides being able to appreciate the excellence of his artistry in bringing us these works of Sor and Giuliani, we can tell him how much we appreciate his record company and how fortunate it is that we have an organization that not only gives us fine recordings from the standard repertoire but also takes us down musical lanes not so frequently trod, and from which, on those journeys, we have received some delightful surprises.

Starobin has contributed a substantial body of work for guitar. And his recordings have not been limited to standards. He is well-known as a performer of modern works of such composers as George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky and Gunther Schuller.

FROM THE MOVIES - NOT AT THE MOVIES

THE WINGS OF A FILM: Music for motion pictures by Hans Zimmer. VRO Flemish Radio Orchestra; chorus; vocal soloists - Lisa Gerrard, Lebo M, Keswa; Dirk Brosse, conductor. Recorded at Flanders International Film Festival, October 2000. Decca 467 749.

Hans Zimmer is one of the motion picture world`s most active composers. On this disc, recorded in concert at the Flanders International Film Festival, October 2000, we hear special orchestrations - a deep bow to the excellent orchestrators - from these films: "Gladiator," "Driving Miss Daisy," "Thelma & Louise," "The Thin Red Line," "Mission: Impossible 2," "The Lion King," "Power of One," "Nine Months," "Rain Man" and "True Romance."

When you`ve got scores for soundtracks that accompanied films such as these under your belt, you`re big time, very big time.

Understand we`re not hearing scores for soundtracks here. We`re hearing selections from the soundtracks arranged for concert performance. I really like "arrangements" of music from a film much better that the soundtrack to a film itself. The soundtrack is only part of a total presentation: You do not see the action for which the music was written. Arrangements of music from a soundtrack is a thing total in itself.

The judgment of this disc lies in the reaction from the crowd that attended the concert: It blew them away. You`ll hear that in the repeated ovations they offered.

(c) Copley News Service

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: King Durkee