Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer

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KREMER'S TANGO SEASONINGS
The Bold Violinist Spices Up Vivaldi with "Four Seasons" by Piazzolla
It was only a matter of time before someone joined that most popular piece of classical music ever -- Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" -- together with the seasonal evocation by tango nuevo king Astor Piazzolla. We can only be glad that violinist Gidon Kremer got there first. Not only is Kremer a renowned virtuoso of the standard repertoire and a key champion of new music, the 53-year-old Latvian native has become one of the most adroit and committed Piazzolla interpreters. His HOMMAGE A PIAZZOLLA and EL TANGO collections lend a touch of Old World high-concept to Piazzolla's New World sensations, and his renewal of the Argentinian's sultry tango-operita MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES was an end-of-the-century highlight. With the Nonesuch album EIGHT SEASONS, Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica ensemble have interspersed the four Vivaldi concertos with the movements from Piazzolla's suite "Four Seasons of Buenos Aries." The violinist and Barnes & Noble.com's Bradley Bambarger discussed the relative virtues of Vivaldi and Piazzolla, as well as the challenge of making the classic sound new and the new sound classic.

BARNES&NOBLE.com: What made you want to revisit Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" since recording it two decades ago?

Gidon Kremer: I thought that I would never play the Vivaldi again unless I could pair it with a piece that reflected the 20th century. I suggested to composers like Luigi Nono and Alfred Schnittke that they might write such a piece, but none of them dared! But while I was falling in love with the music of Astor Piazzolla, I discovered that he, too, wrote pieces related to the seasons. Together with the composer Leonid Desyatnikov -- who has arranged Piazzolla for me on previous projects -- I developed a concept by which we could juxtapose the two works, so that they could provide a sort of commentary on each other.

BN: And how was it playing the Vivaldi again after all these years?

GK: With the Kremerata Baltica -- a group of musicians who average 22 years old -- I was able to rediscover this music through their fresh ears and enthusiastic spirits. Because they'd never played the "Four Seasons" before, it was as if I had never played it before. Of course, Vivaldi's music has been misused on answering machines and in countless restaurants, but this is still music that is very much alive. And that is saying something when there is so much dead music around, some of it even by living composers.

BN: Is it hard to go back and forth between Vivaldi's baroque style and Piazzolla's tango nuevo in your EIGHT SEASONS concert programs?

GK: Playing the two together makes for a long, intense program -- 70 minutes of music without an intermission -- so you enter this new dimension of music-making. Part of our challenge is to change our "masks" for each movement, to switch idioms but remain in a world of real music and not just written notes. We respect the individual styles of Vivaldi and Piazzolla, but we try to present the pieces as speaking the same timeless, universal language of the emotions.

BN: This is your fourth Piazzolla project, coming in the midst of a worldwide boom for his music. Will your exploration of his music continue?

GK: Piazzolla for me is much more than just a commercial icon; he is a wonderful modern composer. And my affection for his music is not just an affair; it is a serious love relationship. I did think that MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES might be my final Piazzolla recording, along with the "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires," but then I discovered his Six Études for violin solo, which I've just recorded for another all-Piazzolla Nonesuch album.

BN: With such recordings as LE CINEMA and an upcoming disc -- SILENCIO -- you have perfected the art of the classical concept album. What's your goal with these projects?

GK: I try hard to make personal albums, albums that are not just records of works but musical journeys, often mixing the classical and contemporary. My ideal is not crossover in the cliched sense, but a crossing out of our usual understanding of what classical music is. A recording should unite different worlds and speak to many hearts.