Elizabeth Bouman reviews a quintet's impressive performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Vivaldi - Four Seasons
St Paul’s Cathedral
Saturday, February 25
A good-sized audience in St Paul's Cathedral on Saturday evening was treated to a recital of music by the Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), performed on authentic period instruments by Szabolcs Illes (Hungary), Edita Keglerova (Czech Republic), Tomas Hurnik, Jonathan Tanner and Shelly Wilkinson.
The recital began with three Vivaldi short concerti, before the performance of his best known work Four Seasons. It was quite special to hear these works performed by such skilled instrumentalists. The vast acoustics of the venue did not detract from the delivery, although at times the harpsicord sound did not carry well.
Alla Rusitca RV 151 was a short three-movement work in similar vein to Four Seasons, and based on Dunedin's January seasonal weather could well have been included as an optional fifth movement for that masterpiece! Convincing statements with echoed repeats, well-defined cello passages and a feeling of lyricism highlighted the contrapuntal spirit in Triple Concerto RV 554a.
Concerto in D major RV 121 opened with a movement of robust unison statements and subtle affirmation, before a contrasting brief Adagio crammed with suspensions and resolved dissonance. The final Allegro raced away with bright capricious passages - so typically Vivaldi.
Lines of poetry added to the original score by Vivaldi were read before movements of Four Seasons, alerting the listener to brilliant bird-like solos, shepherds' pipes, wasps and storms. The five musicians managed a very impressive performance with remarkable tempi, unique in many ways for the individuality of single "voices'', particularly virtuosic input from Illes (violin soloist).
Saturday's performance gave distinct clarity to the conversational character, sequential definition and changing moods of nature's four seasons.
The recital was the second-last in a South Island tour arranged by the New Zealand International Early Music Festival.
