This release successfully captures the excitement and vitality of live performance. Pioro’s welcome interpretation oozes with panache and personality, serving also as a benchmark for 21st-century attitudes to this canonical repertoire. Bravo!

There’s an overwhelming impression of collaborative vision between Pioro and his Manchester colleagues, and of conscious dialogue between themselves and Vivaldi. Morpurgo’s poems – warmly narrated by the poet himself – are genuinely beautiful, timelessly evocative creations that all ages will connect with...this is a classily off-piste Four Seasons that’s well worthy of your time.