Four Seasons 92760 [DC]: Classical CD Reviews - February 2006 MusicWeb-International

‘Brilliant Classics 92760’, like ‘Beverly Hills 9210’ is the kind of number record shop staff will probably soon learn off by heart ... if Brilliant’s marketing strategy takes off, that is. This is the sort of collection which will be the choice of anyone hard-pressed to find a suitable present for the Mother-in-Law who just loves her classical music. Nicely presented with a colourful and eye-catching wall tile design by the Dutch firm ‘Media Collectief’, each CD inevitably opens with the appropriate concerto from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’, well played by the Slovak Chamber Orchestra. The theme of each season is thereafter carried further with some more or less obvious selections from the standard repertoire.

Having only recently put aside ABC Classics’ ‘music for relaxation’ I’ve been in Box-Set ‘Nirvana’ for longer than I would normally consider healthy. While there is inevitably a good deal of identical repertoire on each, the ‘Four Seasons’ has the advantage of Brilliant Classics’ cherry-picking of a variety of renowned and established artists and record labels. ABC have an excellent resource in their Australian catalogue, but as a general impression the Brilliant box has more variety. They have distinguished names such as Neville Mariner and Roy Goodman thrown in almost like an afterthought, and running through the listings gives a fair idea of Brilliant’s ever-growing stable of fine names. As a result the CDs come over as fresher and slightly less stodgy than the ABC set.

There are one or two moments which gave rise to some humorous throat-clearing. For some reason Daniel Benkö’s version of Mendelssohn’s Frülingslied has something far too ‘pop’ about it, with the kind of reverb which has you expecting ‘The Shadows’ to start up any second. For those with good relative pitch there is a stomach-churning quarter-tone tuning difference to look forward to between the Schumann and Schubert on tracks 16 and 17 on the ‘Spring’ disc. The wobbly soloists in Delibes’ Flower Duet go unnamed, but it is always nice to hear a complete version of Offenbach’s Can Can. Misha Goldstein’s playing is a pleasure, but the ghost of Victor Borge hovers around just about every solo piano piece on these discs.

Moving on to ‘Autumn’, Bach’s Air sounds more than a little droopy and out of sorts, the solo violinist better left unnamed in my view. There are of course a number of ‘bleeding chunks’ on these discs, and Mozart’s Adagio from the clarinet concerto and Brahms’ Allegretto from the 3^rd Symphony do sterling service in nice performances by Dutch musicians. ‘Winter’ has a relaxing selection of slow evergreens, with the Ride of the Valkyries thrown in to keep us awake. This is the sort of programming which might put off restaurant owners from putting these discs on as background – the predominantly gentle mood being gate-crashed now and again with some Straussian or Wagnerian bombast.

In general, this is a pleasant enough collection for those seeking musical wallpaper. The standard of performance is high, the recordings are all top notch, and the theme concept is interesting and effective. Safe gift fodder then, for all grandmothers and relatives who have ‘good taste’.

Dominy Clements


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