[11/19/2010] Sunday Classics preview: Baroque composers, like musicians before and since, had it bad for Italy (continued)

Raymond Cohen is the soloist, with the Montpellier Strings, in the bouncy concluding "Hunt" movement of Autumn.

Enough talk, here's our "new" Four Seasons, and our old friend. (Again, though, I encourage you to pay special attention to those four slow movements.)


VIVALDI: The Four Seasons
(Nos. 1-4 of The Contest Between Harmony and Invention, Op. 8)

1. Spring
(i. Allegro, [3:17] ii. Largo, [6:00] iii. Pastoral Dance)

2. Summer
(i. Allegro non molto, [5:38] ii. Adagio; Presto, [7:57] iii. Presto)

3. Autumn
(i. Allegro, [4:40] ii. Adagio molto, [7:05] iii. The Hunt)

4. Winter
(i. Allegro non molto, [3:44] ii. Largo, [6:05] iii. Allegro)

Luigi Ferro (in Spring and Autumn) and Guido Mozzato (in Summer and Winter), violins; Virtuosi di Roma, Renato Fasano, cond. EMI, recorded in London, 1959


VIVALDI: The Four Seasons

No. 1, Spring
(i. Allegro, ii. Largo, iii. Pastoral Dance)
No. 2, Summer
(i. Allegro non molto, ii. Adagio; Presto, iii. Presto)
No. 3, Autumn
(i. Allegro, ii. Adagio molto, iii. The Hunt)
No. 4, Winter
(i. Allegro non molto, ii. Largo, iii. Allegro)
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Szymon Goldberg, violin and cond. Philips, recorded Oct. 22-26, 1973


IN TOMORROW NIGHT'S PREVIEW --

Don't forget that, as the very names tell us, both the sonata and the concerto came out of Italy, which will be our theme for Sunday's main post.

#