Sunday, March 29, 2009

Late music acquisition

I have wanted Yo-Yo Ma's album, Vivaldi's Cello, since before it came out in 2004 but I finally got around to acquiring a copy this week. I love it. Finding a lousy recording of Yo-Yo Ma is like finding an Oktoberfest in downtown Miami. It just ain't going to happen.

Amazingly, despite Sony's vigilance, I found a Youtube clip to demonstrate the album for y'all:


These are tracks 7-9 on the album.

One of the things I love most about this album is that, oh my word, Vivaldi wrote music other than The Four Seasons. No, really, he did! Only one track on this album contains music from Vivaldi's most recognized work. It's nice to get to hear recordings of some different Vivaldi pieces.

Speaking of which, I do have an incredible recording of The Four Seasons. Entitled The Compleat Four Seasons, the music is done by Musica Anima with Arnie Roth conducting and playing violin. What's really neat about it is that it also contains Patrick Stewart reading the sonnets that Antonio Vivaldi originally wrote to go with the music. And despite it making me giggle whenever Stewart reads the line in Summer which goes "the cuckoo raises its voice" (something about the way Stewart pronounces cuckoo strikes me as funny), I love every other aspect of the recording.

Wow. The Roth/Stewart album came out in 1995. I feel so old.

2 comments:

--Transfixed Ingress said...

When you're roll-er skat-ing go for a good rat-ing
and don't fall, no don't fall......

Mad Guru said...

Roller skating, judges waiting, what a rating, WIN! TODAY!!!!