Comparing Recordings of Vivaldi&#8217;s Four Seasons: I Prefer Mila Georgieva Over I Musici

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Mira Georgieva & Sofia Soloists

The second disc. One I occasionally pull out and listen to is a violin concerto recording of the Four Seasons (VICC-86) by Bulgarian violinist Mira Georgieva, recorded with the Sofia Soloists when she was fourteen years old as soloist.

ミラ・四季

アーティスト:ゲオルギエバ(ミラ), 作曲:ビバルディ, 指揮:デュロフ(プラメン), 演奏:ソフィア・ゾリステン, 演奏:ゲオルギエバ(ミラ)

¥1,921 （2026/09/11 05:00時点 | Amazon調べ）

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Mira Georgieva was one of those child prodigies who caused quite a stir at the time, and if I recall correctly, her parents were members of the Sofia Soloists. The sound is slightly top-heavy with a slender, lean quality, and the recording is nothing special one way or the other, but the atmosphere is bright and fresh and the playing is really quite good. The violin she was using at the time — a Rogeri, which she may still be playing — had a thin, cool, and sharply focused tone, and one gets the sense the recording simply captured that balance as it was. It has been out of print and hard to find for a very long time now. Among the recordings I’ve introduced here it is perhaps the least imposing, but it is a delicate, youthful, and elegant performance.

Janine Jansen

Janine Jansen four seasons

Decca *cl*

¥600 （2026/09/10 04:59時点 | Amazon調べ）

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The only recording of the Four Seasons I own on hybrid SACD is the Vivaldi Four Seasons by young Dutch violinist Janine Jansen. A pure cover-buy, I’m afraid. It’s billed as a supreme Four Seasons performed with the minimum possible forces — one player per part — but this interpretive approach falls rather firmly into the eccentric category. To put it charitably, it’s full of energy. Less charitably, there’s something a little coarse about it. It also depends rather literally on the quality of your playback system, but honestly, the first time I heard it I thought: what on earth is this?! The sound quality is good, being a DSD recording on Decca, but since I don’t own a proper SACD player this can’t really count as a proper review. As is the case with other discs, the SACD layer does sound comparatively refined, without everything clumping together. I wrote a little about this in an earlier piece covering the Goldmund and Pioneer DVD-585A, which is linked below.

Narimichi Kawabata’s Four Seasons with the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna

Finally, as a Japanese performance, here is Narimichi Kawabata with the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. I’m actually listening to this disc on the sub-system in my study as I write this. The recording has a slightly dry and crisp character — rather like Japanese-made audio equipment, if one were to draw an analogy — and compared to his other recordings it drifts a little away from my personal taste, though I’m sure there are plenty of people who prefer this kind of monitor-like sound.

川畠成道の「四季」

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¥10 （2026/09/11 05:00時点 | Amazon調べ）