Vivaldi: Juditha Triumphans

Advantages: Classic Concertos for Everybody
Disadvantages: Strings only!!!no woodwind...boo!

...The Four Seasons by Vivaldi Made famous by countless car adverts and Nigel Kennedy at the Albert Hall amongst other places. This has got to the piece that all fiddle player long to play and solo in! My first exposure to this came when I was seven, we had a hat making competition at school, the Hat Parade, and dad suggested making a musical hat and came up with the Four Seasons which was a favourite of mine as a youngster. Mum and me made the hat, which turned out to be a master piece in the end (for a 7 year old anyway!) and I won first place! I was fixed with Vivaldi for a long time after! Even a novice in classical music would recognise some of the notation! Vivaldi composed in Vienna, and was born 1678 and died in 1741. In these times, most music was composed and performed by telling a story and acting and dance were very... Read review

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Advantages: vivid, passionate and entirely against type. Totally first class
Disadvantages: the foldout CD is bizarre!

...Before I go any further, I would like to express an extremely large THANK YOU to my dear friend Teresa, also known as zerbine28, who is not only a most friendly lady, but also an erudite and knowledgeable writer in her own right, far moreso than I could ever hope to be. It is she who so marvellously provided me with this CD, a gesture which goes far beyond the shelling out of $18 for the purchase of the music. So, in return, I say you all go out and at least read some of her reviews on my behalf. Thanks a bunch, Teresa! Anyhow, we've all heard Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons, at least in some form. There always excerpts of them playing on the TV commercials, or something equally innocuous. This is usually accompanied by a sonorous voice announcing "Gainsborough's Furniture ? your first choice in elegant furnishings and accessories... Read review

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Advantages: Superb strings, Vivacious virtuoso violin
Disadvantages: None

...The Four Seasons Composer: Antonio Vivaldi Performers: Nigel Kennedy Members of the British Philharmonic Orchestra Label: Emi Classics Released: October 27th 2003 Price: £13.99 Availability: Most good record shops The Cover: Kennedy Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678, the son of a violinist. Vivaldi composed during the late Baroque period. He is an instrumentalist composer predominantly of Concertos writing a total of 500.The concerto is a musical form wherein a solo instrument is set against a larger group. More than half of Vivaldis concertos are for the solo violin. 1. Concerto For Two Violins, Strings & Continuo In A Minor, Op. 3 No.8 This Violin concerto was the eighth part of a set that Vivaldi published in 1712. He entitled the set L’Estro Armonico (Musical Fancy). The concertos were in written... Read review

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