Nelson Monfort, Gilles Colliard, Barcelona Baroque Orchestra
"Why yet another version of the four seasons? This question comes back again and again because this opus of Vivaldi has become so universal. The answer is of course: because no-one really knows the four seasons.
Let us put the work into context. Vivaldi, a prolific composer, whose abundant output satisfied the demands of a Venetian audience, hungry for new music, offers here a music that is representative, descriptive, a music that is totally baroque. A music that personifies the definition of the word "barocco", of portuguese origin, a pearl of a rare form, bizarre.
Here is a music that tries to faithfully describe a man confronting the seasons, a man of another era, for whom the destruction of a crop signifies chaos and the arrival of spring, hope. The Red Priest provides us with poems. The possibility of hearing the verb and the notes of a master in order to be powerfully reminded that music is a language. Here is the very first version with narrator, where I hope that the text can be woven amongst the sounds, to be harmonised and underline the melodic subject.
My approach was motivated simply by a wish for authenticity and integrity. A baroque orchestra with the will to interpret this music on gut strings, restoring a more guttural sonority, so close to the human voice, and with a will to let the music 'speak'. This disc is an invitation to travel. Enjoy the pleasure of an autumnal snooze, of winter ice-skating or of a joyous ball. Join the dance! "
Gilles Colliard
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