The Colorful 4 Seasons!

by Barbara Rose Shuler

Thursday night conductor Andrew Arthur and members of the festival orchestra teamed up with David Gordon and the tech crew for a gentle multimedia presentation of the Four Seasons by Vivaldi spiced with works by Bach.

Gordon read aloud from the sonnets that supplied the basis of these musical portraits of the seasons. Not the most impressive poetry ever penned but full of vivid images that Vivaldi scored into musical masterpieces.

Here, as an example, is Gordon’s “adaptation” of the sonnet for the first concerto "Spring":

Allegro
Springtime is upon us
and the birds salute her with festive song!
The breath of the West Wind
caresses the sweetly murmuring streams.
Thunder and lightning, the chosen heralds of Spring,
spread a dark mantle over the heavens.
And then, when the storms fall silent, the little birds
return once more to their lovely songs.

Largo
On the flower-strewn meadow,
with leafy branches rustling overhead,
the goat-herd dozes, his faithful dog by his side

Allegro
To the merry sound of rustic bagpipes,
nymphs and shepherds dance
beneath the brilliant canopy of spring.

Projected onto backdrops were color splashes for each season along with the name and image of the lead violinist for each season concerto: Spring Evan Few, Summer Gabrielle Wunsch, Autumn Emlyn Ngai and Winter Edwin Huizinga.

The overall effect was appealing and festive. Nice touch to allow these brilliant festival violinists to be showcased in this way. Arthur displayed his virtuoso abilities in the Bach harpsichord solos.

The cycle of repeat concerts began last night (Friday) with the second performance of the magnificent Haydn Creation Oratorio, which will be presented one more time July 31. Tonight the sold out Beethoven program takes place. Hard to get tickets this late in the cycle with a two-week festival.

I am really missing that third week! I know the musicians are as well and it is sad to hear that next year looks to be a two week festival again.

Music—another casualty of the economy crash!
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Barbara Rose Shuler writes Intermezzo, which chronicles classical music, in the Monterey Herald's Go! Magazine each week. She can be contacted at wordways@comcast.net.
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