Cuyler,

I wish that I knew more about the imagined Vivaldi that I seek... I am 
talking about a recording that I had 35 years ago and the memory other 
than that it included 'old' instruments is vague to the extreme. But 
your response has led me to look on Amazon to which I find this:

"If you think you've been overexposed to Vivaldi's /The Four Seasons/, 
the arrangements by 18th-century musician Nicolas Chédeville featured on 
this disc will give you a fresh outlook. Although your first impression 
might be of a very distant cousin to P.D.Q. Bach 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000000EDR/$%7B0%7D>, 
Chédeville's versions featuring hurdy-gurdy and musette (a kind of 
bagpipe) actually corresponded to a contemporary French fashion. Dressed 
as peasants, aristocrats would accompany their slumming with 
rustic-sounding instruments ("real peasants," as the booklet notes dryly 
observe, "had their revenge a generation later"). These reworkings of 
Vivaldi's concerti grossi are more than mere transcriptions (a 
common-enough practice in the Baroque). As a kind of proto-mix master, 
Chédeville rearranges and actually substitutes different concertos from 
Vivaldi's original Op. 12 set for the familiar "Summer" and "Winter." 
The Palladian Ensemble 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000399T/$%7B0%7D>, a 
period-instrument chamber ensemble, brings an effervescent zip to the 
proceedings that is truly infectious. Listen to how Vivaldi's imitative 
treatments of bird calls in "Spring" take on a new guise as rendered by 
chirping recorder against the wheezy backdrop of a hurdy-gurdy. The 
collaborations here radiate the sheer fun of spontaneous involvement: 
the "ad libitum" improvisations in Chédeville's own "Sonata in A" (which 
he attempted to pass off as a creation of Vivaldi's) sound like the 
18th-century equivalent of a crackling jam session. Elsewhere, the 
plangent mingling of pipes and recorder creates a truly striking timbre, 
proving just how malleable is the flow of Vivaldi's melodies. The 
Palladian's style and panache will tease your ears with a delightful 
sense of invention throughout. /--Thomas May"
/
> What timing for your hurdy-gurdy note!    Just last night I was 
> scanning a  slide of stunning painting of a hurdy gurdy player, 
> lamenting that I don't  have one handy.   I will send the picture to 
> you later today.
Way kool! Do you have Hieronymus Bosch's hurdy-gurdy from the Garden of 
earthly Delights? You could blow up the detail of that instrument then 
step the slide back to show the context.
http://bad-penny.gr/bosch/paintingDetails.php?id=3&lang=en 
<http://bad-penny.gr/bosch/paintingDetails.php?id=3&lang=en>
> You would fit right in as the street musician.
On the move!
> Heck with cell phones to distract you from  the traffic, but then, out 
> here the distances between places are so much  greater than back east 
> that overcoming boredom is more of a challenge than  unexpected obstacles.
Toothless Guy Productions features a Jaws (Jews) harp player who drives 
but had to give up the melodious twang for accordion as it is easier to 
drive while playing an accordion and certainly harder to play a Jaws 
harp w/ no teeth. TGP goes along with my other product labels such as 
Hoboe's Last Choice (home made wine) or Scintilla Sophia Salamander 
Press (home published books... the last project being a mono-book - one 
copy only).

][<

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