The Four seasons

Erik Bosgraaf (recorder & conductor) & Ensemble Cordevento

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is one of the world’s most popular and widely recorded collections of music, a set that instantly became an international hit after it was first published at part of the composer’s Op.8 in 1725. No doubt it was its imitative directness – extra musical occurrences/phenomena evoked in an extremely suggestive manner and even written into the score, such as “the barking dog” or “the drunkards’ sleep” etc. – that caused such as sensation in its time, effortlessly bridging the gap between the salons of the highborn and the alehouses of the lowly. Today nothing has changed: the concertos are performed both by great violin virtuosos and famous hard rockers; they are works that are constantly being presented in new guises through the re?imagining and reworking of the musical score.

Such is the standpoint adopted on this recording by Erik Bosgraaf, who has chosen here to adapt the violin part for recorder, explaining how “the violin part can be played on the recorder with surprising ease, without many changes. In some ways it works even better than concertos Vivaldi wrote specifically for the recorder!” Years ago Bosgraaf performed The Four Seasons with a symphony orchestra; for the present album, however, he wanted to approach his ideal as closely as possible using Cordevento, a small baroque ensemble he founded himself, knowing all the musicians through and through. Bosgraaf’s aim is to make the four legendary concertos sound as if they had been written for the recorder in the first place – and the results are laudable, with the contrasts between the wind instrument and the accompanying strings revealing previously unheard stratifications and details. As the soloist himself puts it, “Listen to Vivaldi with fresh ears and enjoy!”

Erik Bosgraaf presenteert een nieuwe opname van Vivaldi's vier allerbekendste concerten. Met zijn Ensemble Cordevento nam hij De vier jaargetijden op, waarbij hij de vioolsolopartij op blokfluit speelt. Want, zo zegt Bosgraaf, dat kan gewoon.

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons (Arr. for flute)
 Autumn, RV293
 Spring, RV269
 Summer, RV315
 Winter, RV297

"In de handen van violisten lijken De vier jaargetijden van Vivaldi soms wat afgezaagd, maar Erik Bosgraaf laat met zijn blokfluit een frisse wind waaien door deze overbekende muziek. Vier jaar geleden heeft hij al eens blokfluitconcerten van de Venetiaanse meester opgenomen. Voor een reis door de vier seizoenen zijn niet eens zoveel aanpassingen nodig. Bosgraaf doet geen poging om de viool te imiteren. De muziek klinkt speels en vitaal, virtuoos van lente tot winter."
De Telegraaf ****

Een nieuwe lente, een nieuw geluid.