The Right Honourable 2018
Delivering his dream to the listener’s doorstep, veteran violinist validates the variety of classical piece.
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons In Rock
“Vivaldi” is a tour de force of CURVED AIR‘s “Air Conditioning”: the fierce appropriation of eponymous baroque composer’s approach to melody, this track showed how organically could symphonic opus be applied to rock idiom without actually borrowing from original source. Written two years earlier, Darryl Way’s number reflected his pursuit of modernizing the Italian’s most famous work, although it would take him 50 years to come up with the “Four Seasons” treatment that’s supposed to not only mark the aforementioned cut’s anniversary but also the violinist’s age of three score and ten. A rather faithful reading of the concerti, Way’s album may be stripped of multicolored orchestral arrangement, which was replaced with synthetic hues, yet Darryl doesn’t fully arrive at the electric edge typical for his days-of-yore attack; there’s much gentlier touch in the perennial’s new rendition.
While “Autumn Adagio” appears to be the most artificial – and, thus, most interesting – reimagining of the classic, the playful beats and bass throb Way added to “Spring Allegro” alongside birds’ chirping feel too lightweight for the depth the aficionado will expect from such an endeavor, whereas the delicate panning of “Pastorale” opens a previously concealed pocket dimension to it before the violin is left alone to flutter. By wrapping more strings around “Autumn Allegro” to create a full ensemble impression, Darryl managed to make this part of the suite romantically profound thanks to the piece’s one-man performance core, with “Winter Allegro” lending the familiar flow to, first, new-age shimmer and, then, muscular march. Still, there’s no erstwhile fierceness, so this take on “Four Seasons” can’t be set in stone as firmly as “Vivaldi” was. A dream, if not reverie, the record should please fans anyway.
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