Product Description

The Gabrieli Consort continue their series of award-winning collaborations with the National Forum of Music, Wroclaw, Poland with a new version of Haydn's great oratorio The Seasons. Using a new performing edition by Paul McCreesh, this recording is the first to feature the large orchestral forces that Haydn called for, including a string section of 60, 8 horns and a choir of 70. As well as the combined forces of the Gabrieli Consort & Players, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and National Forum of Music Choir, the recording features solo performances from British singers Carolyn Sampson, Jeremy Ovenden and Andrew Foster-Williams. All physical and digital booklet texts are provided in both English and Polish translations.

Review

McCreesh's interpretation is delivered on the kind of scale Haydn himself is known to have presented the work in Vienna, with substantial choral and orchestral forces captured in sound that is both expansive and immediate.
The soloists are expertly chosen...while McCreesh's conducting is responsive to every subtle shade within Haydn's grand spiritual vision... --George Hall