Search - Thomas Wilbrandt, Antonio Vivaldi :: The Electric V - Spring & Summer

Stunning treatment of Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Kimba W. Lion | the East Coast | 03/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First the housekeeping: This is Disc 1 of a two-disc set, oddly, the two discs were always sold separately, never as a set. This disc contains Spring and Summer. Amazon lists disc 2 as "Electric V Fall and Winter".
Someone once said that writing about music is akin to dancing about architecture. There just aren't words to properly convey the experience. This disc especially leaves me struggling for words. Wilbrandt has reworked and written variations on Vivaldi's Four Seasons, using synthesizers and natural sounds in concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra. If somehow that evokes images of those bargain 'music and nature' CDs you see in gift shops, let me say that this is as far above those as Heifetz was above your kid sister at her first violin lesson. Wilbrandt illuminates, expands, and opens up Vivaldi's original work without detracting from it in any way. This has been one of my "desert island discs" since I first heard it 13 years ago."

Correcting the review by Kimba Lion

kitchensynch | Los Angeles, California USA | 06/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Electric V was originally issued as a two disc set back in 1984. This set was one of the first CDs I ever bought.
It was the basis of a video made for and by Thomas Wilbrandt which, at this writing, does not seem to be available in any format."