Those fascinated by the violin may well want this disc, and specialists in its construction probably already have it. For casual listeners in search of an attractive version of
Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concertos, however, it's a poor choice, despite the presence of the legendary
Salvatore Accardo as soloist. Recorded live at a festival in Cremona, Italy, in 1987, these performances have been issued several times in the past. The sound is boxy, and the balance between instruments is off, bizarrely favoring the lower accompanimental strings in a few instances. The interpretations are strictly old-school, featuring anachronistic rubatos and played, despite
Accardo's use of Stradivari instruments from
Vivaldi's time, on modern strings.
It is these Stradivari instruments that provide the main point of interest for the recording, for
Accardo uses several different ones. This gives the listener an unusual opportunity to sample the sounds of Stradivari violins and to appreciate their much-vaunted individual personalities. The 1715 violin known as "Il Cremonese" and used for the "Spring" concerto has an especially ringing resonance audible even amongst the straitened sonics of this disc, for example, while the "Firebird" violin of 1718, named for its red coloring, shows a fiery personality in sound as well all the way across the wide-ranging arpeggios of the first movement of the "Autumn" concerto.
Throw in some nice black-and-white detail photos of the individual violins, and you have a package that will appeal to violin students and enthusiasts. And
Accardo, who owns two of the violins and knows them all well, is of course a more-than-agile soloist. For a more convincing reading of the Four Seasons on modern instruments, however, try
Nigel Kennedy's on-the-edge outing with the strings of the
Berlin Philharmonic.