Needles & Grooves AotM /// Vol. 13 - July 2020 /// Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons

Deb's disdain for covers is well known in the JQBX. His quarrels lie when an artist does an "empty" cover of something, changing almost nothing about the original to justify making a cover. This record appears to be more of a reinterpretation of the material rather than just a straight cover from what I've read about it. I admit I've not gotten the time to sit down with it yet myself, and apparently neither had Deb when he wrote his message earlier judging by the wording, but as someone who tends to agree with his feelings on covers to a certain degree, I understand the hesitancy.

I myself, not really being a fan of classical music, am going to go in with an open mind. Because I wouldn't call myself a jazz fan, but I enjoyed Mark de Clive-Lowe. I wouldn't call myself a flamenco fan, but I enjoyed Camaron. I wouldn't call myself a fan of Irish music, but I enjoyed The Gloaming. I've learned to trust this club and all of the picks, even in genres I wouldn't have sought out myself, have been phenomenal, so I won't knock anything before I try it.
 
gaporter said:
Deb's disdain for covers is well known in the JQBX. His quarrels lie when an artist does an "empty" cover of something, changing almost nothing about the original to justify making a cover. This record appears to be more of a reinterpretation of the material rather than just a straight cover from what I've read about it. I admit I've not gotten the time to sit down with it yet myself, and apparently neither had Deb when he wrote his message earlier judging by the wording, but as someone who tends to agree with his feelings on covers to a certain degree, I understand the hesitancy.

I myself, not really being a fan of classical music, am going to go in with an open mind. Because I wouldn't call myself a jazz fan, but I enjoyed Mark de Clive-Lowe. I wouldn't call myself a flamenco fan, but I enjoyed Camaron. I wouldn't call myself a fan of Irish music, but I enjoyed The Gloaming. I've learned to trust this club and all of the picks, even in genres I wouldn't have sought out myself, have been phenomenal, so I won't knock anything before I try it.
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Just worth noting that calling a classical performance of a composition a cover is just really weird and illogical. There isn't an "original performance" of a composition. In classical music that was actually written after the advent of recorded music (unlike The Four Seasons) it is pretty rare that anyone considers the first performance or the first recorded performance of it to be "the best" and calling a different group of performers' rendition of a composition a cover is just wrong.

Edit:I don't think that directly applies here anyway, as this is a derivation/edit and a different thing from another performance of a composition entirely.
 
dhodo said:
Just worth noting that calling a classical performance of a composition a cover is just really weird and illogical. There isn't an "original performance" of a composition. In classical music that was actually written after the advent of recorded music (unlike The Four Seasons) it is pretty rare that anyone considers the first performance or the first recorded performance of it to be "the best" and calling a different group of performers' rendition of a composition a cover is just wrong.

Edit:I don't think that directly applies here anyway, as this is a derivation/edit and a different thing from another performance of a composition entirely.
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Completely with all the moving parts and and the way the compositions act much more as a whole in telling a story, rather than as parts that are also, or perhaps mainly, written as individual songs, makes it more akin to seeing a play with different casts, no one calls the lastest performance of a Shakespeare play at the globe a cover!
 
Joe Mac said:
Completely with all the moving parts and and the way the compositions act much more as a whole in telling a story, rather than as parts that are also, or perhaps mainly, written as individual songs, makes it more akin to seeing a play with different casts, no one calls the lastest performance of a Shakespeare play at the globe a cover!
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Yeah, exactly. And to take that analogy further, classical music performers aren't in it to record music, certainly not to record only original music, just like theater actors. They are first and foremost live art forms and sometimes happen to be recorded.
 
In my defense I was groggy, half awake, and irritable this morning when I wrote that. I get that classical pieces are not covers but whenever I peruse the genre I am definitely put off by how many iterations of a given piece I will find. I don’t expect there to be a best nor for the original (as impossible as that is) to be the best. I do like the performance play analogy; There is a script and ideally a lot is left up to creative interpretation.

That said, the 4 seasons has been rehashed countless times and having heard it numerous times (twice in person), I already have strong suspicions (read preformed judgements) of what I am in for this time. Currently, it falls into the same vein as say The Nutcracker score. I do appreciate the narrative aspect to some extent. I can only hope for a high degree of creative license.
 
In all seriousness, the only difference I can see is that the 2xLP has an extra disc of bonus material and remixes. The single LP pressing from a few years earlier isn't on color vinyl and it doesn't say anything about it being limited edition or being a more "audiophile" pressing or anything. I'm willing to peg it as the 2xLP just being more common.
 
gaporter said:
In all seriousness, the only difference I can see is that the 2xLP has an extra disc of bonus material and remixes. The single LP pressing from a few years earlier isn't on color vinyl and it doesn't say anything about it being limited edition or being a more "audiophile" pressing or anything. I'm willing to peg it as the 2xLP just being more common.
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I was just about to post this:

E20797DE-52CD-4DDA-910B-567C20873BC1.jpeg
 
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