{"id":52140,"date":"2025-01-22T11:42:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T10:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/905e3e77-b6b1-484d-8287-11dba735a11f"},"modified":"2025-01-24T16:10:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T15:10:33","slug":"review-vivaldis-the-four-seasons-theotime-langlois-de-swarte","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/review-vivaldis-the-four-seasons-theotime-langlois-de-swarte\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Vivaldi&#8217;s The Four Seasons (Th\u00e9otime Langlois de Swarte)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"><\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Wednesday, 22 January 2025 at 10:42 AM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html> <head\/> <body> <p><strong>Vivaldi<\/strong><br\/> The Four Seasons; Violin Concerto in E major; Concerto for Strings and Solo Violin in G minor; Aria from Nulla in mundo pax sincera* etc; plus works by Lambranzi and Gentili<br\/> *Julie Roset (soprano); Orchestre Le Consort\/Th\u00e9otime Langlois de Swarte (violin)<br\/><em>Harmonia Mundi HMM902757.58\u00a0\u00a0\u00a090 mins (2CD)<\/em><\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"> <audio controls=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/01\/REC-OF-THE-MONTH-Violin-Concerto-in-E-Major-RV-269-La-primavera-I.-Allegro.mp3\"\/> <\/figure> <h6 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Clip: Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in E Major, RV 269 La primavera &#8211; I. Allegro<\/h6> <p>If your heart sinks at the thought of yet another recording of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/antonio-vivaldi\">Vivaldi<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<em>The Four Seasons<\/em>, read on: this one is so compelling it will have you on the edge of your seat, as will the companion works on this exhilarating new album.<\/p> <p>French violinist Th\u00e9otime Langlois de Swarte is one of the brightest young things on the early music scene today and here we\u2019re treated to a triple helping of his versatile talents as he takes on the roles of soloist, arranger and director of the period-instrument ensemble Orchestre Le Consort.<\/p> <p>We\u2019re also treated to a \u2018second\u2019\u00a0<em>Four Seasons<\/em>: a sequence of Vivaldi\u2019s other concertos, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-concerto\">concerto<\/a> movements, compiled in a way that parallels the keys of the\u00a0<em>Quattro Stagioni<\/em>, from the \u2018Springtime\u2019 of E major to the \u2018Winter\u2019 of F minor \u2013 a tonal progression which Swarte sees as a symbolic (and Proustian) reflection on the cycle of life.\u00a0<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/six-best-vivaldi-works\">Vivaldi: Six of his best works&#8230;<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/vivaldi-toast-britain\">Vivaldi&#8230; the toast of Britain?<\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <p>Vivaldi may have been ordained as a priest but he was, above all, a man of the theatre \u2013 an impresario, opera composer and director \u2013 and Swarte\u2019s readings spotlight the drama of his idiom, throwing musical contrasts into high relief. Gutsy orchestral playing gives way to airy ensembles; brooding recitative-like passages to lyrical instrumental arias; improvisatory solo riffs to vigorously rhythmic tuttis.<\/p> <p>Throughout, the Orchestre Le Consort produces a sound of such transparency that details often-stifled in other performances emerge with glassy clarity \u2013 among them, the exquisitely wispy and inventive continuo realisations. The players\u2019 mimetic abilities are also thrillingly theatrical: they summon up twittering birds, murmuring streams, buzzing insects, thunderous storms \u2013 and all the other images that Vivaldi sketches in the\u00a0<em>Seasons<\/em>\u2019 prefatory sonnets.<\/p> <p>Above all, though, it\u2019s Swarte\u2019s solo playing (on a 1733 fiddle by Carlo Bergonzi) that steals the show: pliant, expressive, wild and virtuosic. Particularly admirable is his elastic, almost jazzy flexibility with the music: listen to his discreetly extemporised embellishments; his supple, stream-of-consciousness-like musings (Proustian, again!); and the fiery spontaneity of his solo violin narrations. He\u2019s the St\u00e9phane Grappelli of period performance.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/disco-pioneers\">Were Bach, Vivaldi and Rossini the real pioneers of Disco?<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/vivaldi-musical-style\">Assessing Vivaldi&#8217;s musical style&#8230;<\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <p>As well as the concertos, this two-disc set includes the title aria from the Red Priest\u2019s sacred motet\u00a0<em>Nulla in mundo pax sincera<\/em>, its serene pastoral melody sung with enchanting candour by Julie Roset, whose dewy soprano has an ingenuous, choir-boy quality.<\/p> <p>We also hear selections from Venetian composer-cum-ballet master Gregorio Lambranzi\u2019s 1716 collection of romping theatrical dances, whose skeletal, single-staff melodies have been fleshed out for this world-premiere recording by Swarte and Vivaldi expert Oliver Four\u00e9s. Here courtly, there folksy, they\u2019re the musical equivalent of Pietro Longhi\u2019s genre paintings of Venetian masking and\u00a0<em>commedia<\/em>-style cavorting. Th\u00e9otime and his colleagues charm and entrance with playing by turns balletic, by turns acrobatic.<\/p> <p>Finally, the players take their bow with a filigree\u00a0<em>Adagio<\/em>\u00a0from a Trio Sonata by Vivaldi\u2019s fellow violinist, Giorgio Gentili \u2013 another unknown gem, and one of such vaporous beauty it will leave your sinking heart floating on clouds.\u00a0<em>Kate Bolton Porciatti<\/em><\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"[NEW RELEASE] Vivaldi | Concerti per una vita | L'Estate | Th\u00e9otime Langlois de Swarte, Le Consort\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2I5Qm_d1juI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Vivaldi: Concerti per una vita&#8230; <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Wednesday, 22 January 2025 at 10:42 AM Vivaldi The Four Seasons; Violin Concerto in E major; Concerto for Strings and Solo Violin in G minor; Aria from Nulla in mundo pax sincera* etc; plus works by Lambranzi and Gentili *Julie Roset (soprano); Orchestre Le Consort\/Th\u00e9otime Langlois de Swarte (violin)Harmonia Mundi HMM902757.58\u00a0\u00a0\u00a090 mins (2CD) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":52141,"template":"","categories":[1,80,19],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-vivaldis-the-four-seasons-theotime-langlois-de-swarte.jpg",900,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-vivaldis-the-four-seasons-theotime-langlois-de-swarte-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-vivaldis-the-four-seasons-theotime-langlois-de-swarte-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-vivaldis-the-four-seasons-theotime-langlois-de-swarte-768x768.jpg",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-vivaldis-the-four-seasons-theotime-langlois-de-swarte.jpg",800,800,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-vivaldis-the-four-seasons-theotime-langlois-de-swarte.jpg",900,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-vivaldis-the-four-seasons-theotime-langlois-de-swarte.jpg",900,900,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Wednesday, 22 January 2025 at 10:42 AM Vivaldi The Four Seasons; Violin Concerto in E major; Concerto for Strings and Solo Violin in G minor; Aria from Nulla in mundo pax sincera* etc; plus works by Lambranzi and Gentili *Julie Roset (soprano); Orchestre Le Consort\/Th\u00e9otime Langlois de Swarte (violin)Harmonia Mundi HMM902757.58\u00a0\u00a0\u00a090 mins (2CD)&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/52140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}