Berliner Barock Solisten, Daishin Kashimoto: Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”

The recording project, completed in 2025, marks a double anniversary: 300 years ago, The Four Seasons was published, and 30 years ago, the Berliner Barock Solisten were founded. It was these very violin concertos that were featured on the ensemble’s first CD recording. The work also has a distinguished tradition with the Berliner Philharmoniker: the 1972 recording with Herbert von Karajan and Michel Schwalbé is legendary; the conductor also chose The Four Seasons with Anne-Sophie Mutter for the inauguration of the Chamber Music Hall in 1987.

The Berliner Barock Solisten ensemble, founded by members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the then concertmaster Rainer Kussmaul, has set itself the task of cultivating historically informed performance practice with modern instruments. The new recording with Daishin Kashimoto also forms a bridge within the history of the ensemble: although the first concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker is wholly committed to modern performance practice, Rainer Kussmaul had a lasting influence on him as a teacher. It is the appeal of this very mixture of tradition and modernity that can be heard in this recording of The Four Seasons, in which the ensemble and soloist approach Vivaldi’s fascinating imagery with the utmost openness and curiosity. It is available on CD/SACD (hybrid) with a cover collage from Johannes Itten’s Vier Jahreszeiten and an essay by Benjamin Poore in the accompanying booklet, as well as a download.

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