ヴィヴァルディ: 《四季》

スワルテによる「四季」
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ヴィヴァルディの生涯を描いた《Antonio Vivaldi, Concerti per una vita～協奏曲で描くヴィヴァルディの生涯》で、バロック・ヴァイオリンの新しき旗手であることを世界に印象付けたテオティム・ラングロワ・ド・スワルテ。彼はヴィヴァルディの《四季》によってヴァイオリンにあこがれ、バロック音楽に興味をもつようになったといいます。みずみずしいひらめきに満ちた音色のアンサンブルで、「春」(=出発(あるいは再出発)、新しい誕生の喜び)を祝っています。永遠に聴いていたくなるような演奏です。
HARMONIA MUNDI

It might seem that the last thing the classical market needs, and even the world, is a new recording of Vivaldis Four Seasons violin concertos. But the young (and impressively named) Baroque violinist Theotime Langlois de Swarte and his Le Consort here deliver a fresh rendition that justifies the grooves or bytes. Its the program thats most unusual. The performers avoid the usual combinations of other Four Seasons works or other famous Vivaldi concertos, expanding the scope to a double album that includes both Vivaldi works and those by other composers. The idea is to investigate some of the proximate and more distant stylistic sources of these remarkable concertos, and to integrate them into wider contexts. It may not be an idea that Vivaldi would have found familiar, but it is perhaps one of which he would have approved. Thus the first part of the program concludes with an aria from the motet Nulla in mundo pax sincera, RV 630, that relates to the concertos key structure. From there, de Swarte moves into the second part of the program, with other pictorial-seeming or structurally unusual Vivaldi concertos, but also adaptations of chamber dances from a collection called Nuova e curiosa scuolo de balli teatrali by Vivaldis contemporary Gregorio Lambranzi. These are short dances, surely never before combined in a program with the Four Seasons, and the violinist contends that the popular flavor of these influenced the pastoral scenes in the Four Seasons. No doubt this may be debated, but the violinist definitely gets points for originality, and the strongest point in his favor is that the sequence of events here makes musical sense. The performances themselves are lively, and a bit delicate with a period violin that seems to fit the music at a very deep level; the continuo accompaniments may be a bit lush for some. The sound from the Metz Arsenal is resonant and bold, just like the performances. Definitely not just another Four Seasons. ~ James Manheim