VIVALDI. The Four Seasons, Op. 8 Nos. 1-4. Simon Standage (yin); English Concert / Trevor Pinnock (hpschd). Archiv Produktion digital 0 2534 003; a 3311 003.

It is with a degree of temerity, perhaps, that I set about recommending yet another recording of Vivaldi's perennial evergreen. Few if any readers of these columns can be without at least one version of The Four Seasons but, notwithstanding that likelihood, equally few will be able to resist the exuberance of this one. In matters extrovert, the English Concert, under the naturally vital direction of Trevor Pinnock, seldom fail to turn out the goods. Here we find them at their liveliest and most spontaneous—there's nothing too studied or excessively deliberate in these performances; they sparkle with good humour, savouring the myriad dynamic and descriptive nuances with which Vivaldi seasoned, if I may be forgiven, his score. Simon Standage executes the solo violin part with admirable clarity, precision and elan; it's almost demonic at times, but it never loses control and it never lacks that vital blend of' intellectual and technical discipline.

Well, as if all this isn't enough to justify laying out a fiver or so, there's another reason why these performances should interest listeners, and Vivaldi enthusiasts, particularly. The texts used here are not those followed in other recordings of The Four Seasons but ones based upon a set of manuscript parts in the Henry Watson Music Library of Manchester. Admittedly, the differences are, for the most part, small but they are often important and by no means unnoticeable. Furthermore, they probably represent Vivaldi's first thoughts on the matter, so to speak, since these parts predate the versions published by Le Céne and Le Clerc. The bewitching Largo "La pioggia", of "Winter", for example, is enhanced and enriched here by an obbligato cello part of demisemiquavers. I don't think you will find that present in any other recording of the concerto.

Standage's playing in this movement is beautifully sustained and elegantly, though discreetly, ornamented. Elsewhere, the presence of a theorbo is a welcome and effective addition.

The digital recording is a fine one with good perspective and definition. What a pity that an inadvertently caught string in the last note of the first movement of "Autumn" was left in. It's a small point but, on repeated listening, it becomes more rather than less noticeable. Otherwise a distinguished release. Highly enjoyable! Few will be disappointed. N.A.