Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, etc.(Sound recording review)

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, etc. Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Decca Originals B00006627-02.

I had almost given up hope that the major classical record labels were going to remaster and reissue any more of their back catalogue in audiophile or near-audiophile editions. Production of EMI's "Great Recordings of the Century," DG's "Originals," and Decca's "Classic Sound" had begun to slow down precipitously in the last few years. But Decca is back with a new series of reissues in 96kHz/24-bit remasterings that they call "The Originals," presumably taking the nod from their former rival and now stablemate at Universal Music, DG.

Among the first releases in Decca's "Originals" series is Neville Marriner's 1969 recording (issued in 1970) of The Four Seasons with Alan Loveday and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. And I'm so glad that Decca not only remastered the recording in the most modern technology but included a front picture of the original Argo cover as well. Not only is it appropriate, it reminds me that I wasn't imagining things in remembering that in their beginning the Academy used hyphens in their title. I still do, regardless of how they now punctuate it. Anyway, another retro thing the new Decca reissues do is embellish the top of each "Originals" disc with a replica of the old LP. In other words, the CD looks like a miniature vinyl record.

It seems like I have so many Four Seasons in my collection and so many that pass through the house for review that the only time I get a chance to listen to Marriner's performance is when a new edition of it comes along. Then I'm reminded just how good it is. The last time was in the late nineties when it appeared as a "Penguin Classic."

Years ago I included the Marriner recording in a survey of Seasons, and I used the word "surrealistic" to describe it, a term proposed by a friend as suggesting the ...