It's a bit depressing how many new releases from the "major" classical labels these days consist of recycled old recordings, but give Deutsche Grammophon credit for the thinking that obviously went into this four-CD box entitled The Four Seasons: A Musical Calendar of Favourite Classics. In a way, this is yet another milking of the perennially salable Vivaldi Four Seasons; each of the four discs (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) opens with a complete performance of its respective concerto from that set, in the Gil Shaham ...
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It's a bit depressing how many new releases from the "major" classical labels these days consist of recycled old recordings, but give Deutsche Grammophon credit for the thinking that obviously went into this four-CD box entitled The Four Seasons: A Musical Calendar of Favourite Classics. In a way, this is yet another milking of the perennially salable Vivaldi Four Seasons; each of the four discs (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter) opens with a complete performance of its respective concerto from that set, in the Gil Shaham recording with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. But then they continue with seasonal pieces drawn from all over the historical spectrum. There's another complete set of four seasons: Astor Piazzolla's Cuatro estaciones porteñas, with which the Vivaldi concertos have been combined before. Beyond that is an enjoyable grab bag of old favorites (Waldteufel's Les patineurs for winter and selections from Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, for example) along with music one...
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