Barnes & Noble

If Benjamin Franklin were alive today, he might have amended his famous quip thusly: "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and new recordings of Vivaldi's Four Seasons." Beautifully played and recorded, this fresh interpretation with the brilliant, Korean-born violinist Kyung Wha Chung and the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble is a praiseworthy addition to the mind-boggling choice of recordings. Unlike some of her high-profile colleagues, soloist Chung seems uninterested in adopting any semblance of brisk, Baroque performance technique or in wrenching high drama out of Vivaldi's picturesque musical miniatures. Instead, we are treated to music-making that is characterful yet unexaggerated and unfailingly rich in tone. The droning "rustic bagpipe" in the third movement of the "Spring" Concerto is full but not whiny, and the "torrid heat and blazing sun" of the opening of the "Summer" Concerto bakes rather than blisters. In sum, this is a performance that's easy to live with and enjoy. It is a Four Seasons for all seasons. Andrew Farach-Colton

Gramophone

This is an unashamedly traditional performance, one which has little or no regard for period practice, but gives us a sequence of four concertos in warmly relaxed readings. Unlike those of Kennedy and Mutter they avoid extreme speeds, either fast or slow. This is music-making among friends, made the more vivid by the richness and immediacy of the recorded sound. Edward Greenfield