Nigel Kennedy plays Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra. An introductory interview with Mariella Frostrup and rehearsal footage are intercut throughout the programme.
Symphony for the Spire – A spectacle of music and theatre from the West Green, Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral’s West Green is the setting for Symphony for the Spire. Set against the magnificent backdrop of the cathedral, the evening is a mixture of spectacular special effects and pyrotechnics with a programme of unique stars, including Placido Domingo, Jessye Norman, and cellist Ofra Harnoy. The cathedral’s West Front also acts as an enormous projection screen for a series of dramatic images to support a special adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Starring Kenneth Branagh in the role that made him internationally famous, and Charlton Heston, the action is backed by a special version of the acclaimed score by Scottish composer, Patrick Doyle.
Vivaldi, Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons)
In a career now spanning more than a quarter of a century, Gidon Kremer has confirmed his reputation as an artist of international stature and as a markedly individual personality. Kremer was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1947. At the age of 18, he auditioned for David Oistrach and was one of the few pupils chosen by the maestro to study under him at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1967 Kremer won his first international prize at the Reine Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. This was followed by further awards in Montreal and Genoa, and culminated in the first prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1970. In 1981 Kremer founded the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, where he gathers around him a varying, but always dynamic group of chiefly young musicians to discover new pieces and rediscover the standard works through new interpretations. Kremer is also actively committed to contemporary composers from Russia and Eastern Europe, such as Schnittke, Denisov, Gubaidulina and Pärt. In this recording, Kremer not only plays the solo part, but also leads the renowned English Chamber Orchestra. The recording was made in April 1981 in the splendid Baroque library of the monastery in Polling near Munich.