Credits:

Alan Loveday

Description:

A classic among popular Baroque music recordingsand one of the most successful and satisfying of its kindThis 1969 recording of Vivaldis *The Four Seasons* by Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields is arguably the most widely listened to and most successful of the hundreds of recordings they have madeand it fully deserves this acclaim. Remaining to this day one of the most frequently recorded works in the classical repertoire, *The Four Seasons* is the quintessential Baroque classic; when this recording first appeared, it felt remarkably fresh, full of vitality, and brimming with new ideas. Here we have a performance masterfully executed thanks to the Academys meticulous preparation; an elegant and astonishingly virtuosic performance by solo violinist Alan Lovdy; a wonderfully refined and imaginative basso continuo on harpsichord and organ by Simon Preston; and Marinar