Vivaldi: 12 Concerti Op 8 / I Musici CD

 Splendid Duo
This Duo (two for the price of one) features I Musici's first recording of the Four Seasons in stereo. Recorded in 1959 the sound quality is excellent. The soloist is I Musici's (then) leader Spannish violinist Felix Ayo. Not to be rushed Mr. Ayo takes the first movement of "Spring" at a more relaxed tempo than modern (especially "historically informed") ears may be used to. The result is very refreshing. The final movement, likewise. This allows Ayo's very distinctive searing but sweet tone to shine. His gentle fade at the end of the second movement of "Summer" (before the magnificent storm in the last movement) is beautifully done. The gently rocking tempo adopted for the first movement of "Autumn" genuinly befits the simple merry-making it is supposed to evoke (as opposed to the more raucous efforts sometimes heard in other versions). The final movement of "Autumn" however, is taken at a pace that seems (to me) a bit too relaxed. One reviewer (on a site elsewhere) questions Signor Ayo's ability to do justice to these concertos. Let me assure the reader that Ayo's performance in "Winter" (and the remaining concertos of Op. 8) provide ample refutation to such a slur. "Winter" is taken at a "clip" that today's ears will be more accustomed to, and demonstrates that Felix Ayo could And did wield a bow with just as much agility and passion as any of his distinguished contemporaries. The remaining concertos of Op.8 were recorded at a slightly later date (1961). The sound quality is, if anything, slightly improved. The performances, majestic. Ayo (co-founder of I Musici) was a pioneer of the baroque revival and one of it's greatest exponents. Ayo once commented on a description of vibrato by Leopold Mozart (father of Amaedeus) published in a violin tutor of 1769. Mozart decried the use of the ornament but admitted that many used it. Ayo gleefully observed "that is the vibrato and nothing else!"
Submitted by tom-henshaw (Macclesfield, Cheshire, England) 
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