Great Recordings: Vivaldi's The Four Seasons - The first ever concept album!

In this video I explain why this is such a remarkable piece of music and why Nigel Kennedy's recording was so special, deserving the accolade an all time 'great recording'.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
05:38 The composition
08:46 The performance
22:51 Outro

Accompanying lyrics, considered to be written by Vivaldi himself.
Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "Spring" (La primavera)
Allegro:
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are
softly caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar,
casting their dark mantle over heaven,
Then they die away to silence,
and the birds take up their charming songs once more.
Largo
On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches
rustling overhead, the goat-herd sleeps,
his faithful dog beside him.
Allegro
Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes,
nymphs and shepherds lightly dance
beneath spring’s beautiful canopy.
Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, "Summer" (L'estate)
Allegro non molto
Under a hard season, fired up by the sun
Languishes man, languishes the flock and burns the pine
We hear the cuckoo's voice;
then sweet songs of the turtledove and finch are heard.
Soft breezes stir the air, but threatening
the North Wind sweeps them suddenly aside.
The shepherd trembles,
fearing violent storms and his fate.
Adagio e piano – Presto e forte
The fear of lightning and fierce thunder
Robs his tired limbs of rest
As gnats and flies buzz furiously around.
Presto
Alas, his fears were justified
The Heavens thunder and roar and with hail
Cut the head off the wheat and damages the grain.
Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 315, "Autumn" ‘L’autunno’
Allegro
Celebrates the peasant, with songs and dances,
The pleasure of a bountiful harvest.
And fired up by Bacchus' liquor,
many end their revelry in sleep.
Adagio molto
Everyone is made to forget their cares and to sing and dance
By the air which is tempered with pleasure
And (by) the season that invites so many, many
Out of their sweetest slumber to fine enjoyment
Allegro
The hunters emerge at the new dawn,
And with horns and dogs and guns depart upon their hunting
The beast flees and they follow its trail;
Terrified and tired of the great noise
Of guns and dogs, the beast, wounded, threatens
Languidly to flee, but harried, dies.
Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV 297, "Winter" (L'inverno)
Allegro non molto
To tremble from cold in the icy snow,
In the harsh breath of a horrid wind;
To run, stamping one's feet every moment,
Our teeth chattering in the extreme cold
Largo
Before the fire to pass peaceful,
Contented days while the rain outside pours down.
Allegro
We tread the icy path slowly and cautiously,
for fear of tripping and falling.
Then turn abruptly, slip, crash on the ground and,
rising, hasten on across the ice lest it cracks up.
We feel the chill north winds course through the home
despite the locked and bolted doors...
this is winter, which nonetheless
brings its own delights.

Link to the cartoon which shows where the images hidden in the music (birds singing, dogs barking etc.) can be heard:    • Four Seasons - Summer: 1st Movement |...  

Link to video of Kennedy performing the Beethoven violin concerto with Klaus Tennstedt in 1992:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1d...

Video of Nigel Kennedy performing The Four Seasons:    • Nigel Kennedy plays Vivaldi: The Four...  

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