Conducted from the violin by Americo-Canadian leader Jeanne Lamon and originally recorded in 1992, this recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concertos was one of the first that put Canada's burgeoning historical-performance scene on the map. It's far from perfect, but heard two decades on it still holds up well. The early 1990s marked perhaps the high point of popularity for these concertos, with hundreds of versions on the market, and coming up with a standout interpretation was a tall order. But Lamon's reading was ...
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Conducted from the violin by Americo-Canadian leader Jeanne Lamon and originally recorded in 1992, this recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concertos was one of the first that put Canada's burgeoning historical-performance scene on the map. It's far from perfect, but heard two decades on it still holds up well. The early 1990s marked perhaps the high point of popularity for these concertos, with hundreds of versions on the market, and coming up with a standout interpretation was a tall order. But Lamon's reading was and remains unusual. With 11 violins, Lamon can get a big, differentiated sound out of her Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and the four concertos vary considerably in style, with violent thunderstorms in summer and a kind of clunky galant loping gait in the first movement of "Spring." (Sony's attractive new packaging includes the programmatic sonnets on which the concertos are based.) One might not agree with every detail of Lamon's reading, but there's an X factor working in her favor...
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