Today we will hear part of Max Richter's "Recomposed", his reworking of Vivaldi's Four Seasons from 2012. Richter said he dispensed with about 75% of the original material, however the basic outline and melodies make his reworking instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the Four Seasons, though Richter teases out and emphasizes certain themes in these concertos. Specifically we will hear the "Summer" concerto. Now summer in Vivaldi's original was never portrayed as a comfortable breezy summer day at the beach, but more as an oppressive, stifling heat. I find this greatly amplified in Richter's reworking, and thus relates well to our current global predicament, the searing, lamenting violin playing while the world burns.
Richter's work has had the rare fortune for contemporary music to have been recorded more than once, we hear a new recording with violinist Fenella Humphreys.
| Summer Max Richter/Fenella Humphreys, Covent Garden Sinfonia, Ben Palmer - Recomposed: The Four Seasons - Rubicon Classics 
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| Suite de Sama Ostad Elahi - Danses celestes - Le chant du monde |
| Suite de Tchapi II Ostad Elahi - Danses celestes - Le chant du monde |
| Girdhari Maara Laal Bagga Khan, Meisa Ram & company - Mitha bol - Amarrass Records |
| Balmroun Anonymous - Hot Bandari Dance Music vol. 2 - Caltex |
| Unknown Said Berrada - Unknown |
| Mandiani Mamadou Kante - Les tambours du Mali - Playasound |
| Lampesuda Toumani Diabate & Sidiki Diabate - Toumani & Sidiki - World Circuit |
| Lonely Angel, Meditation for violin and string orchestra Peteris Vasks/Fenella Humphreys, Covent Garden Sinfonia, Ben Palmer - Recomposed: The Four Seasons - Rubicon Classics
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| Few things musically make me think of searing, white-hot heat then double-reeded instruments (the Aissoua sufis who frequently use the double-reeded ghaita call when the music moves from the slower tempos and lower registers to the faster tempos and higher registers moving from cold to hot) or extreme high registers on the violin as we heard in both the Richter-Vivaldi and Peteris Vasks' 'Lonely Angel'.
After ending this epic journey with Vasks' breathtaking 'Lonely Angel' I just could not resist playing his earlier violin concerto 'Distant Light'. The focus again is almost excessively on the solo violin and extremely long drawn out phrases arcing towards the highest registers. Music that just burns hotter than the sun. |
| Violin Concerto 'Distant Light' Peteris Vasks/John Storgards, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas - Symphony No.2/Violin Concerto - Ondine |
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