Max Richter Remixed - Trio Fibonacci
The Canadian Trio Fibonacci—whose name I admire for having written three fanfares some years ago based on numerical constructions based on the so-called Fibonacci sequence—have played a game of sorts in presenting an arrangement of Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. I may have shared my exposure to Richter’s arrangement before, but as I have lived with this piece now for a few years, there are too many movements for me that just seem untouched, leaving Vivaldi’s original in-tact. For me among the strongest of the movements is the first movement of Winter that has served as the opening music of the Netflix series Chef’s Table.
Trio Fibonacci have set about to re-arrange the arrangement (or as Richter might prefer us calling it, a re-composition) by adapting it to violin, piano, and cello. In addition to the Vivaldi Recomposed, they also treat us to four additional tracks of Richter arrangements.
What quickly emerges in this album is that this version realized for trio is an even further departure from the Vivaldian original. Richter maintained a chamber orchestra complete with harpsichord; this version doesn’t try to emulate the flavor of a full orchestra of any size, but it does maintain the same notes but the overall texture and timbres are too different. And for me that makes it quite interesting. There are moments if you were to “needle drop” across the Four Seasons that you might not be able to place the piece. I really admire how the trio doesn’t try and emulate the style of the Hope recording where Richter plays his Moog. While I do think the violinist especially, Julie-Anne Derome does pull effects used in the past from other performances of the Vivaldi original, the slow movement of Winter is an especially good example of presenting Vivaldi’s melodic line in a unique way. The way cellist Gabriel Prynn matches Derome’s sound multiple times is also admirable; Maxim Shatalkin’s presence in the trio sounds to me to be a few feet away from the string players, but the balance achieved, I think, is well done.
On the Nature of Daylight first came to me in a version for saxophone which I found inviting in a way that many of Richter’s pieces can be, and of course I’ve heard other versions. This one opens with the strings alone. I might have expected the piano to take up the moving line but it goes to the violin. They perform the work without, I think, overdoing it; in other words, they don’t try to squeeze too much out of his harmonies.
Mercy is also a popular Richter piece, perhaps just as simplistically beautiful as On the Nature of Daylight. The sound at the start of Autumn Music 2 of the piano and then the strings coming in, together, matching timbre, volume, and style showcases why this album works so well—while I can go on about the music and composer, these musicians know how to play together and match their sound. The final track, Dona nobis pacem 2 ends on an intense vibe and I think is well placed as the final track.
This album was recorded at the concert hall at Domaine Forget in Québec in May 2024. Peter Wang’s mastering and engineering I think are extraordinary. I can’t remember ever hearing a recording made in this space before but the result captured is atmospheric. I do think that Vivaldi’s Four Seasons are in our day over-produced and now there are amazingly a number of releases of the Richter re-composition. I don’t want to waste readers’ time with an over-performed work but this recording spoke to me in its freshness and novelty. The result is a very nice disc of music that I think in some ways rivals the original idea conceived by Richter. The inclusion of additional pieces, for Richter fans, is a warm addition.
