Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
January 2005 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

At this point in music history, even the most singular and diehard heavy-metal fans have heard The Four Seasons, and most of the music collections in the Western world probably have at least one recording of the music. In trying to figure out how to sell another copy of the venerable workhorse, the folks at TDK have come up with an interesting marketing angle: go after the interior design/architecture/music-loving demographic! All during the performance, the camera wanders around various Venetian homes designed by Andrea Palladio, lingering lovingly over every nook and cranny, jumping back for the occasional close-up of the soloist’s face or dancing fingers. I guess it’s an OK marketing idea -- better, say, than selling feminine napkins during Fox football -- but I like my music as music, especially when it is played and recorded as well as it is here.

Claudio Scimone has recorded a large number of Vivaldi’s works over the years, and his youngish band seems to have the music in their blood. In addition, even though they are using modern instruments, they follow Baroque conventions and use up-to-date performing scores. Despite the fact that the music was recorded in four different venues, the sound is consistently thrilling and well articulated with good stage depth. In three of the four slow movements we get the classical version of an Ashlee Simpson performance as the musicians stand around and pretend to play in front of a beautiful location, but the other ten movements seem to have been recorded at the time they were played.

The extras include an execrable and calculated attempt to pander to the pop- and culture-oriented half of the audience. A jazz harpist (Michaela la Fauci) plays maudlin versions of songs like "Alfie" and "Satin Doll" as the camera slowly pans over several of the villas of Andrea Palladio. How bad is it? The filmmakers didn’t even make a vague attempt to segue the music to the interior shots. This is the kind of stuff you see on French State television in between the educational shows, while everyone is stepping out to smoke their Gauloises. Betty Wrong directed this segment, and I assure you it took all of my available self-restraint not to make an obvious joke.

Music lovers will enjoy the illuminating half-hour discussion by conductor Claudio Scimone in which he uses music played by I Solisti Veneti to demonstrate his points. I only wish the engineers had done as good a job recording this extra as they did The Four Seasons. Nonetheless, the talk is instructive and entertaining, and well worth watching once or twice.

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