Gheorghe Zamfir & Traffic Strings Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons   NEW - A WORLD PREMIERE! This production is a world premiere. As you now there are many recordings according to the original score (for solo violine & chamber orchestra) for A. Vivaldi The Four Seasons, but this an unique production. Gheorghe Zamfir Traffic Strings: Gabriel Gheorghe, Viorel Bustean, Lucian Moraru, Dan Joitoiu, Silviu Prodan Released: 2006 Panpipe: Gheorghe Zamfir First violin: Gabriel Gheorghe Second violin:Viorel Bustean Viola: Lucian Moraru Violoncello: Dan Joitoiu Double Bass: Silviu Prodan Musical Arrangements: Lucian Moraru Sound Engineer: Andrei Kerestely Artistic Director: Lucian Moraru AUDIO (DEMO): Gheorghe Zamfir & Traffic Strings Autumn - Allegro I Autumn - Allegro II Winter - Largo I Winter - Allegro II Winter - Allegro III Spring - Allegro I Spring - Largo II Spring - Allegro III Summer - Moderato I Summer - Adagio II Summer - Presto III cd-musicstore.com Folk music, classical, pop, religious, Christmas Carols, romance ballads, available at: www.cd-musicstore.com The Making of CD Gheorghe Zamfir: “In 1988 I was in Florida recording a select disc for panpipes and the organ accompanied by a very good organist in the US: Diana Bish. The recording was for Philips Polygram. The disc was to include pieces in the Baroque and Classicist styles as well as my own compositions. The producer had just finished the disc with the Criola Mass interpreted by Jose Carreras. One day he asked me: "Why don't you consider Vivaldi's Four Seasons? I think it would be a phenomenal success, don't you?" I gave his suggestion a lot of thought as I had listened to Vivaldi's piece several times and knew that the score for the solo violin was impossible to play on panpipes. "Let me look into it," I replied. 16 years have passed since and I never gave the project serious consideration again as I knew I would need several years to approach the score for the violin but with transformations and adaptations for the specific instrument. In September 2005 the eminent musician Lucian Moraru came up with the proposal first suggested in 1988 by Philips. "I can adapt the pieces for you and a string quintet and I`ll do the musical arrangement and adaptations, Maestro," he added. Reluctantly and skeptically I nodded as if saying: "So be it." And that is how this musical odyssey started. In October the rehearsals began with the Athenaeum Quintet made up of remarkable Musicians. We had talks, Lucian made corrections, tried out the score, we talked again, made more corrections, tried out the score until we agreed on the solo for panpipes in the final version. The Christmas holidays started and then came January and the project was first presented on tour in Canada in the greatest cities and concert halls. We had another week of 6-7 hour per day rehearsals in Toronto. We were very nervous because the first concert was about to be held and we want to played as good as possible. That was the world premiere of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with panpipes solo instead of the violin. Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver followed. The audience clapped their hands after each part and at the end, apart from Vivaldi, after an exhausting programme chosen to please the audience, we had standing ovation 3 times, 4 times, 7 times at each concert. The Canadian producers of the tour, Lucian Moraru and myself, believed it would be only natural to record the Seasons on CD. After the Canadian tour, the composition had gained maturity. The project was recorded on March 25 and 26, 2006. The recording was done 8 hours per day, which would have been impossible in 1988. This is an absolute world premiere in the sense that no other player of panpipes has had the courage to tackle this score. This music is full of emotion and it gives rise to feelings that cover the entire range of creation with throbs, fights and states that were transposed into sounds of excellent quality. It is an achievement which proves that music knows no barriers and no limits. In the light of the 180 discs titles I have recorded so far, I have shown once again that panpipes are a complete and absolute instrument which deserves to be placed first on the great stage of world instrumental music. In 50 years of effort and tireless work on the panpipes I have won the greatest prizes and honors. I would like to thank Lucian Moraru from the bottom of my heart for the phenomenal idea`s he had. I would also like to thank all the members of the quintet for their dedication and talent. Last but not least, I would like to thank the Kerestely studio for their professionalism, responsibility and for the amazing speed at which they worked throughout the recordings. Lucian Moraru: Before this project I made the first orchestrations and musical adaptations for Soprano Saxophone and orchestra based on classical themes by Maurice Ravel: Bolero, Di Capua: O Sole Mio, G.Puccini: Mio Babbino Caro for a CD entitled Solitude. The soloist is Adrian Petrescu and I endeavored to adapt the classical scores to a sound demanded by the large audiences of the 21st century. In September / October 2005 I finished the musical arrangement of the Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi for panpipes and string quintet. As far as the Four Seasons are concerned, I achieved something quite unique by replacing the sound of the solo violin with an unusual woodwind instrument - the panpipes accompanied by a string quintet rather than a chamber orchestra. In terms of musical achievement, I tried to use different modern combinations of timbre technically accomplished by the instruments of the quintet which are specific to the century we live in, means of expression through which I tried to emphasize imaginative pictorial states of the sound material symbolizing different sounds which follow one another naturally according to the season one listens to. I also strove to highlight the inexorable passing of time by introducing a technique which resembles the sound of the pendulum. I am overjoyed that the project has maestro Gheorghe Zamfir as soloist.