“And it was very exciting to experiment with this small group.”Īmong that tightly knit band of eight players were two members of Jansen’s own family-her cellist brother Maarten and father Jan on harpsichord and organ. “We did it with just eight people rather than a full orchestra,” she says. That’s because, Janine Jansen tells Apple Music Classical, this is a Four Seasons with a difference. Recordings of it run into the hundreds, yet this one, released back in 2005 and remastered in Spatial Audio, stands out for its vibrancy and sense of fresh discovery. Vivaldi published the concertos alongside sonnets, possibly written by himself, describing the events of the music in meticulous detail.Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, a collection of four virtuosic violin concertos completed in 1720 at the height of the Baroque era, has mesmerised musicians and audiences in equal measure ever since. Timecodes refer to the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra's album Vivaldi: The Four Seasons with Elizabeth Wallfisch as soloist (ABC Classics).Įach concerto has three movements, Fast-Slow-Fast. 45 minutes What to Listen for in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons 1723, Italy Published: 1725, Amsterdam as part of a set of 12 concertos, Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention) Genre: Concerto (set of four) Instrumentation: Solo violin, violins, violas, cellos, double basses, organ or harpsichord Duration: c. 8 Composer: Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) Period: Baroque Composed: c. Title: Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), op.

Here are some key moments to listen out for. They are some of the most extravagant examples of music that tells a story (“program music”) from the baroque period. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons are four violin concertos depicting the seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Vivaldi four seasons autumn piano