How the classical recording business has changed! Consider this release from the RCA Red Seal label, the once-mighty entity that did as much as anybody else to create the business itself, that brought you
Caruso and
Artur Rubinstein. Now they're apparently reduced to reissuing a 13-year-old performance, originally released by another label, that was in every way middling in the first place. The performers, identified only in small print as violinist Florin Paul and the Hamburg Soloists, give the kind of performance of Vivaldi's brilliantly evocative Four Seasons concertos that, it's true, made the works popular 30 years ago. Everything's on an even keel, and you never see the violinist sweat because he's not putting too much intensity into his playing in the first place. The string sound is homogeneous, and the harpsichord continuo, which in new performances by the likes of
Fabio Biondi adds a real percussive dimension to the music, is kept carefully tucked away in the texture. There's nothing really wrong with this recording, and, truth to tell, these pieces are so colorful and instantly attractive even to people who've never heard a note of classical music that it's hard to really damage them. Be aware, however, that other performers bring a good deal more passion to the music. For a better choice within this category (modern instruments, budget prices) try one of the recordings of these concertos by I Solisti di Zagreb.