Martin in the Fields Neville Marriner, cond.) Allegro (Alan Loveday, violin Academy of St. Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their magical songs once more.Īntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in E Major, Op. Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven.

The birds celebrate her return with festive song, and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes. It’s dancing and happy, the birds are singing in the voice of the violins, and even when we have the arrival of the thunderstorm, we know it’s only a temporary diversion from the beauty of the season. No Ricci paintings have been identified by Vivaldi scholars as being the inspiration for Vivaldi. The conjecture, frequently encountered online and in program notes that Vivaldi was also inspired by a lost seasonal cycle of paintings by Marco Ricci, seems to have arisen in the 1970s after an article making general style comparisons between Vivaldi and Ricci.

It is not known if Vivaldi was the author of the poetry or someone else, but the match between the music and the poetry was unique. One unusual detail about these four works was that Vivaldi also published poetry with each concerto. To my ear, it sounds like little more than the death knell of minimalism.Marco Ricci: Landscape with Mountain and Figures © Toronto Symphony Orchestra I'm sure there's something people find to enjoy in his music, but I have no idea what it is. He can't even bring himself to write something original instead of returning to his ten-year-old cash cow.Īll right, I'm being harsh, but I really don't like Richter or find his music the least bit compelling. He's also cranked out a new version in 2022 to continue printing money. And I don't even like the original Four Seasons! But Richter's version sucks out what little there was of interest.

Anything remotely interesting that happens in his Recomposition was written by Vivaldi, and most of the interesting stuff Vivaldi did is removed. Richter's brand of postminimalism, to me, feels like it simplifies every parameter and there's nothing interesting happening in any parameter. I think what's great about minimalism is that it simplifies some parameters in order to draw out interesting things happening in other parameters. I really like a lot of minimalist composers - Glass, Reich, Eastman, Adams, and others.

Spring classical music vivaldi