Review by: David Hurwitz
Take a look at the cover. This is the most classic-looking DG release in many a year, which should immediately raise suspicions. Obviously the intent, using one of classical music’s most iconic label marquees, is to endow decomposer Max Richter with a commercial pedigree similar to that enjoyed musically by the object of his current affections (affectations?), Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Now let’s face it, Vivaldi is not the most intellectual of composers to begin with, so it’s fair to ask if there is anything to be gained by dumbing down the music to the degree that happens here.
Recomposed By Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons, originally released 31 August 2012, is a radical reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Like many composers Richter was fascinated. 'Seasons' was one of his first commissions — set to Vivaldi's classic 'The Four Seasons' — but this reimagined production is set to a recomposed version by Max Richter. Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons (2012) Alternative cover; 2014 reissue cover. Infra is the 2010 album by neo-classical composer Max Richter, released on July 19, 2010 on FatCat Records. The album was reissued on April 25, 2014 on Deutsche Grammophon Album. Composer Max Richter has rewritten Vivaldi s Four Seasons. Daniel Hope, playing the solo part with the Berlin Konzerthaus Chamber Orchestra, has turned it into a miraculously pulsating piece of contemporary music. Vivaldi Recomposed by Max Richter now on CD. Discover short videos related to Max Richter on TikTok. Watch popular content from the following creators: Mia Dwyer-Kim(@mia.dwyerkim), Hayley Santiago(@hayleysantiago), user(@zo3ybug), alex(@ealesonwheels), Villeky(@villeky). Explore the latest videos from hashtags: #maxrichternypc.
What Richter has done in some of these twelve movements is to take a bit of the original—the solo violin birdsong in the first movement of “Spring” for example—and repeat it mindlessly over a pop-ish chord progression. In the slow movements he may preserve the melody but randomly alter the original accompaniment and harmonic framework. In all cases Vivaldi’s carefully designed forms and schemes of color and contrast, as well as his programmatic intentions, are pretty much destroyed. Is the finale of “Autumn” a rustic dance? Does the music in the central movement of “Winter” skate gracefully over the ice? I don’t think so. None of this would matter if something equally interesting replaced the original concept, but nothing does.
Let me make one thing clear: I have no problem with transcriptions, or with one composer’s take on another, or even a Dadaist painting of moustaches on musical Mona Lisas. Musical culture is full of such things, from Mozart’s updated Handel arrangements, through Respighi, Stravinsky, Berio, and Olav Anton Thommessen’s brilliantly demented Macrofantasy on Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Each needs to be judged on its own merits. It is a cheap shot to say that Max Richter is no Vivaldi (never mind Stravinsky or Respighi). On that count posterity will judge. I will say, however, that about 15 years ago DG tried a similar stunt with a compositional non-happening named Todd Levin. Is anyone discussing him now?
No, the main issue here is whether or not Richter’s originality of treatment offers a fresh take on his borrowed material. As the above brief description suggests, it does not. This disc is a bore, plain and simple. Richter brings virtually nothing to the party, unless turning Vivaldi into a sort of annoying elevator music appeals to your sensibilities. The element of opportunism in all of this thus becomes relevant also. There’s a certain hubris in hitching your name to Vivaldi’s single most popular work. That is what got Richter his interview on NPR—his conceptual daring, and not the actual sound of the music.
At best, then, what we have here is a lesson in clever promotion and public relations, and little more. As a musical experience, however well played by violinist Daniel Hope and the larger ensemble, this is a nullity. So what’s next Mr. Richter, Carmina Burana? Eine kleine Nachtmusik? Pachelbel’s Canon? Boléro? So many lovely works demanding “the treatment”, and so many elevators…
Recording Details:
Album Title: RECOMPOSED BY MAX RICHTERReference Recording: None for this decomposition
- VIVALDI, ANTONIO:
- Hope, Daniel (violin)
- Ridder, André de (conductor)
- Deutsche Grammophon - 476 5040
- CD
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09 Mar – 21 Apr 2018
Shakespeare’s Globe
The Arts Desk, The Upcoming, Theatre Bubble, BroadwayWorldUK
The Times, The Guardian, The Stage, Financial Times, WhatsOnStage, Theatre Cat
“Transfixing”
Financial Times
“Ingenious…music and action come together immaculately.”
The Guardian
“Beguilingly beautiful…Gyre & Gimble have made magic with their latest show.”
The Arts Desk
“Some of the most magical and moving puppeteering you will get to see…a remarkable evening.”
The Times
“There are not enough words to praise the work of art that the team of The Four Seasons performed.”
The Upcoming
“This production is spellbinding in its simplicity and for the breadth of its emotional canvas…a creatively nimble, deeply moving experience.”
The Stage
“An emotional rollercoaster, filled with touching and charming moments…a night you will never forget.”
BroadwayWorldUK
The Four Seasons Recomposed
“This is puppetry at its finest…a quietly brilliant evening.”
Theatre Bubble
“Feels like something entirely new, a genre unto itself, and a really exciting one at that.”
WhatsOnStage
“This has dramatically transformed for me what is possible with the medium.”
Exeunt Magazine
“A beautiful and accessible performance, somewhere between mime, dance and theatrical epic.”
Theatre Cat
“This vastly skilled team imbue every tiny, sensitive movement with meaning and feeling.”
The Independent
“Gyre & Gimble – Finn Caldwell and Toby Olié – are puppet directors at the top of their game.”
Time Out
Vivaldi’s pictorial masterpiece comes to thrilling, theatrical life in an exhilarating show which combines enchanting visuals with live music. Our master puppeteers join forces with some of London’s finest Baroque musicians to conjure a poetic and emotional narrative in response to Max Richter’s acclaimed recomposition of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
This unprecedented collaboration, inspired by the mastery of Japanese Bunraku theatre, explores not only the form and techniques of puppetry, but the crystalline acoustic and candlelit ambience of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in an enchanting new way.
Vivaldi Four Seasons Max Richter
Creative Team
Youtube Max Richter Four Seasons
| Directors | Finn Caldwell & Toby Olié |
| Set & Costume Designer | Paul Wills |
| Composer | Max Richter |
| Music Arranger & Supervisor | Bill Barclay |
| Puppet Design | Finn Caldwell & Toby Olié |
| Puppet Supervisor | Daisy Beattie |
| Candle Consultant | Paul Russell |
| Puppet Fabricators | Nick Barnes, Daisy Beattie, Caroline Bowman, Liz Crossman, Laura Elias, Vicki Fifield, Jo Lakin & Yvonne Stone. |
Max Richter Spring
Cast
| Puppeteers | Elisa de Grey |
| John Leader | |
| Craig Leo | |
| Avye Leventis | |
| Ben Thompson | |
| Swing Puppeteer | Hugh Purves |
| Baroque Solo Violin | Jorge Jimenez |
| Baroque Violin 1 | James Toll |
| Baroque Violin 2 | Alice Earll |
| Baroque Viola / Baroque Violin | Aliye Cornish |
| Baroque Violoncello | Sarah McMahon |
| Harpsichord / Synthesizer | Satoko Doi-Luck |
Max Richter 4 Seasons
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