Nigel Kennedy – Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons (2015) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

Nigel Kennedy – Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz  | Time – 01:01:07 minutes | 609 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Booklet, Front Cover | © Sony Classical

When you see someone called Z-Star among the guest artists, it’s a fair bet that you’re not getting a conventional recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons violin concertos. And sure enough, bad-boy violinist Nigel Kennedy and his Orchestra of Life use the score as a starting point for various kinds of embroidery. There are beats, long solo interjections, abrupt tempo shifts, electronics, rock guitars, samples of various kinds of outdoor sounds, some of them quite loud, and so on. How you’ll feel about this may well depend on your stance toward The Nige in the first place, but give this a chance either way: several things make it work better than you might guess. One is fidelity to Vivaldi’s spirit, if not to his notes: Kennedy reproduces (in English) the sonnets, perhaps by Vivaldi himself, that accompanied the original score, and his sound effects generally correspond to the scenes in the poetry. Second, Kennedy has perhaps never played better than he does here, slashing through his various heavy accompaniments with brilliance and speed. And finally, there’s an X factor here that’s due to a certain break-on-through-to-the-other-side quality. The performance is not just loud and brash but focused and intense as well. In all, you may be left with the impression that if Liszt had known Vivaldi’s music and had had access to modern popular forms and technologies, he might have come up with something like this. Even if not, it’s a wild, wild ride. ~ James Manheim

Tracklist

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
01. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Spring: 1 Melodious Incantation
02. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Spring: 2 Transitoire #
03. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Spring: 3 The Goatherd Sleeps With His Trusty Dog Beside Him
04. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Spring: 4 Transitoire ##
05. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Spring: 5 Nymphs And Shepherds Dance
06. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Summer: 6 Destiny
07. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Summer: 7 Transitoire #
08. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Summer: 8 Fear
09. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Summer: 9 Transitoire ##
10. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Summer: 10 His Fears Are Only Too True
11. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Autumn: 11 The Peasant Celebrates the Rich Harvest
12. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Autumn: 12 Transitoire #
13. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Autumn: 13 Pleasure of Sweetest Slumber
14. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Autumn: 14 Transitoire ##
15. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Autumn: 15 Horns, Guns, and Dogs
16. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Winter: 16 Prolitoire #
17. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Winter: 17 To Shiver, Frozen
18. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Winter: 18 The Rain Outside
19. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Winter: 19 Transitoire #
20. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Winter: 20 Walk on the Ice
21. Vivaldi: The New Four Seasons: Winter: 21 The End

Personnel
Nigel Kennedy violin & electric violin
Members of the Orchestra of Life

Download:

mqs.link_NigelKennedyVivaldiTheNewFurSeasns20152444.1Qbuz.rar