Four Seasons on Gramophone Player
Wed, Jul 6 2011, 7:39PM
While still lamenting the loss of the covermount CD, I must admit that I enjoyed listening to the Gramophone Player's four different recordings of Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, not least because I could pretend to be a knowledgeable critic, adjust my pince-nez, purse my lips and ask of the various artists: what part of non troppo don't they understand? :)
Mon, Jul 11 2011, 7:52AM
#2
RE: Four Seasons on Gramophone Player
Ah. Bless. Thanks for the thread Hitch!
I too enjoyed the comparisons between the different versions and immediately purchased the Alessandrini and Carmignola. The piece is a favourite of mine and it astonished me that I hadn't really "heard" the piece before with the versions I had (Kennedy, Mutter and Marriner). Although this I suppose is the old argument between modern and period instruments. I definitely prefer the period sound and detail. While Alessandrini is wonderfully shocking I do love the subtleties of the Carmignlola.
To be honest Hitch I am not sure the 'non troppo' argument stands up. Just looking at the recordings in front of me in terms of speed for . Carmignola is fastest at 3:05; Loveday (with Marriner) 3:18; Kennedy 3:27, Mutter 3:31; and Alessandrini is slowest at 3:51. This means that Alessandrini and Mutter have is about right. But why do I prefer the Carmignola??
What's the difference between "non troppo" and "non molto" because they seem to be used to imply the same thing on this movement. The Gramophone player uses troppo but the CD version of Carmignola says molto???
Mon, Jul 11 2011, 9:05AM
#3
RE: Four Seasons on Gramophone Player
Thank you for your reply, Martin.
Something of a mea culpa is in order. Being largely ignorant of such matters, I hadn't noticed that the Gramophone Player's declaration of allegro non troppo is unusual. Not having Grove to hand, I turned to Wikipedia and realised that the usual tempo marking is, as you note, allegro non molto.
With regards to allegro non troppo, which I take to mean "fast but not too fast", then I fear all four recordings exceed the speed limit. Similarly, if one believes that "quick but not very" or "not very quick" equate to allegro non molto then that tempo marking also seems to be ignored by the four ensembles.
Before anyone jumps down my throat, please note that my ignorance of these matters is vast. I, too, would like an answer to your question about the difference between the two markings.
Although I've veered perilously cose to pedantry, I have done so because I believe that the featured recordings lose sense of the wintriness of the movement: the concerted strings are so fast that they have no time to breathe and the rapidity of the beats become more important than the timbre and, so to speak, the notes themselves.
Congratulations on your purchase of the Carmignola; I think it's the best of the bunch.
*tumbleweed*