The Four Seasons

[jintan]

Obviously Vanessa-mae's works are good, but they cannot be all equally good. Here I am asking fans in this forum to listen to two of her CDs featuring similar tracks. My assessment is that the sound recording of the Winter(2) and Summer(1) in 'The Best of Vanessa-mae' was better than in her 'The Original Four Seasons' CD (was this EMI's fault?). As the CDs were made several years apart, the sound quality could differ; and in this instance it did, by quite a mile. As such, the sound recording on her 'The Original Four Seasons' CD did not do justice to her great performance.
I concur with Kelvin on Nigel Kennedy's 'Four Seasons'. However, in his recording, the sound quality was better than Vanessa-mae's 'Four Seasons' CD, and I think that's the reason for Nigel's CD to have such wide appeal also.
Try playing all these CDs on a good hifi system and you would know what I meant.

[Arioch]

Hi jintan
I hope this answers your question.

EMI's Fualt?
Yes and No.

the versions on the Four seasons album were more than likely recorded in analogue.

Where as the Best of... album is enhanced!
all the tracks on this album are digitally recorded, they are run through many different filters to remove unwanted sound and to add and clean up (Enhance) sound.
This Enhancement makes the sound more viberant it adds body

[Kevin]

jintan...Kevin (no L) ty.

As far as the group that played the verison i liked better, I'm still looking for them. I didn't get the name.

You can argue against Vanessa-Mae's approach that it is not in line with the composers intentions, but I think that this is allowed and that she deserves credit for her creativity.

I think everyone with any history in "classical" music understands Vanessas approach. Her playing on the recording isn't "modern" or a "modern approach" its stylistically correct (to some extent) of that time. Baroque Improvisation was encouraged by the composers of that time especially in a largo or grave movement. It added character, and allowed to soloist(s) to show their technique.

[Xanthippe]

Kevin, absolutely true what your saying. Vanessa-Mae says this herself in her personal lines in the booklet.

However, the result of her improvisation is a '(Original) Four Seasons' that sounds like a modern composition of today. At least, that is the way I value her unique interpretation!

[Xanthippe]

I compared the classical pices on the 'Best of Vanessa-Mae' cd with the originals on the 'Original Four Seasons' cd.

Jintan is right in a certain way. They used the original tapes for the 'Best of..' cd but the classical pieces of CA3 on htis cd are louder than on the original cd.

Probably EMI changed th eoriginal volume to make these classical pieces fit better with the pop pieces.

[devils_trill]

I have noticed that the sound quality of the storm album is crap. I have to turn it full blast (i do listen to music too load ) to get the same kind of quality that I get from STC.