No cuts, no re-recording: Concerto Köln documents the freedom in Vivaldi’s music with an uncompromisingly audiophile release

“Something new every moment.” – If we are to believe Shunske Sato, leader of Concerto Köln and soloist on this sparkling new release of Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, what is at the heart of this recording is the idea of freedom. Freedom, too, in more ways than one. True to the principles of historical performance practice, the ensemble delivers the vitality of spontaneous playing in Vivaldi’s music. No compromise, no tampering: the freedom of this performance situation is reflected in a recording made without cuts. And in the end it is the music itself which brings freedom. Vivaldi sometimes wrote down no more than melodic outlines, on which the soloist is to improvise. “Slavishly following what is on the page? That’s an idea that was completely foreign to musicians up to the start of the 20th century. Imagination, personality and one’s own view of a piece of music were what was expected,” comments Sato.