Help
Skip to main content
Basket 0 items, $0.00

Classics Explained: VIVALDI - The Four Seasons

An exploration of The Four Seasons narrated by Jeremy Sipeman

Jeremy Siepmann (reader)

Classics Explained: VIVALDI - The Four Seasons

Classics Explained: VIVALDI - The Four Seasons

An exploration of The Four Seasons narrated by Jeremy Sipeman

Jeremy Siepmann (reader)

Purchase product

Download

Audio formats guide

44.1 kHz, 16 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

$18.00

320 kbps, MP3

$14.00

No digital booklet included

Stream now lossless, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit
Free 30 day trial
Fair Play.
We pay more royalties to artists and composers than any other streaming service with our innovative Fair Play pay-per-second model
We pay artists and composers fairly with our pay-per-second model

About

Contents and tracklist

Vivaldi: An Introduction to … VIVALDI: The 4 Seasons
Work length1:58:43
Introduction: Opening, upward-pointing figure
Track length1:33
Answering, downward figure completes the phrase
Track length0:22
Beginning of dialogue
Track length0:25
The nature of musical conversation; repetition; ' echo ' effect
Track length1:26
Upward pointing to one ' target ' note
Track length0:40
' Answer ' points to two, downward notes
Track length0:11
Same idea repeated 3 times
Track length0:19
The first Solo section: birdsong from three soloists, not one
Track length1:53
Repeat of ' two-pronged ' theme in orchestra
Track length0:22
Orchestra depicts murmuring stream, but still there's no real melody
Track length0:51
Further illustrative ' water studies '
Track length0:32
Orchestra erupts into thunderstorm
Track length0:27
Orchestral thunder, virtuosic ' lightning ' from soloist - but still no ' tune '
Track length0:54
Soloistic ' birds ' return to the air
Track length0:41
Variant of opening theme, with ' argument ' between two notes, one high, one low
Track length0:25
Cue to First Movement
Track length0:20
First Movement (Complete)
Track length3:29
Scene setting and Main Theme of Second Movement
Track length1:56
Analytical comment and Main Theme again
Track length0:57
Main Theme varied
Track length0:41
Further variation, tracing slow, descending scale-steps
Track length0:43
Analytical discussion of ' pace ' and ' tempo ' ; further variant of main theme
Track length2:51
Vivaldi springs a surprise, reversing direction and heightening tension
Track length0:44
Analytical cue to Second Movement
Track length0:44
Second Movement (Complete)
Track length2:35
Undercover ' bagpipes ' initiate the finale
Track length1:05
Second part of Main Theme: new notes, same rhythm
Track length0:18
An ' echo ' with a difference
Track length0:23
Reminder of ' echoed ' phrase in its original form
Track length0:12
Surprise variant provides springboard into new descending four-note pattern
Track length0:19
Unexpected, ' flowing ' entrance of soloist
Track length0:36
The use of ' sequence ' in first extended solo
Track length1:21
Vivaldi prepares expectation...
Track length0:19
... and frustrates it by bringing in a new theme, using his four-note ' motto '
Track length1:07
Violins accompanied by flowing ' commentary ' in lower strings
Track length0:34
Soloist returns with new variant
Track length0:36
Pace slows as violins trace another four-note scalewise descent
Track length0:24
The peasants return with the main theme, which turns unexpectedly downward
Track length0:47
Intensification as harmonies change under broad, descending four-note ' motto '
Track length0:37
Mini-earthquake transformed into harmonic landslide
Track length0:46
Critical mood-change in soloist's lonely soliloquy
Track length0:42
Cue to restoration of main theme in its entirety as the movement ends
Track length0:22
Third Movement (complete)
Track length4:15
Scene setting and opening of First Movement
Track length0:34
Expanded groups of answering phrase
Track length0:24
Upper and lower strings alternately succumb to lethargy
Track length0:49
As in ' Spring ', soloist enters with birdsong
Track length0:34
Orchestra hijacks soloist's material
Track length0:40
Soloist returns,first as turtle-dove, then as goldfinch
Track length0:50
Gentle breezes give away to North Wing
Track length1:03
The storm subsides; soloist enters as weeping peasant boy
Track length1:00
Movement ends as storm returns
Track length0:17
First Movement (complete)
Track length5:20
Second movement opens with extremecontrasts
Track length1:34
Second Movement (complete)
Track length2:28
Stormy Weather; thunder
Track length0:37
Lightning from upper strings
Track length0:22
More lightning: ' heat ' lightning from violins, ' fork ' lightning from violas
Track length0:24
Torrential rain, depicted by entire orchestra
Track length0:46
Deferred entry of solo violin, in virtuoso vein
Track length0:54
Peasant's failing resolve as violin spirals down
Track length0:21
Nature triumphant; soloist draws on orchestra's 'rain' music
Track length1:35
The peasant's capitulation
Track length0:23
Third Movement (complete)
Track length3:03
Repetitiousness and folk music; the movement's opening
Track length1:17
Secondary theme, a closely related development of the first
Track length0:28
Solo entry restates the opening theme, ' double-stopping '
Track length1:05
Unexpectedly, a new theme where a repeat might be expected
Track length0:36
The soloist as ' drunkard '
Track length0:45
Further violinistic slips and slides
Track length0:15
Orchestra re-enters with main theme, but is interrupted by the drunkard
Track length0:18
Other drunks join in ' dialogue ' with the orchestra
Track length1:01
The orchestral peasants continue their dancing, but things have changed
Track length0:57
Enter another drunk, courtesy of the virtuoso soloist
Track length0:40
The dance breaks up
Track length0:38
The drunkard interrupts again, then falls asleep, breathing heavily
Track length0:56
Conversation amongst the sober peasants leads to their final dance
Track length0:24
First Movement (complete)
Track length4:46
Scene-setting for Second Movement
Track length1:08
Second Movement (complete)
Track length2:45
Similarities between the Third Movement and the First
Track length1:06
Expectation and surprise: Vivaldi tacks on one bar too many
Track length0:27
A case of predictable unpredictablity: novelty and repetition
Track length0:36
Soloist's double-stopping depicts hunting horns
Track length0:34
Orchestra yields to unexpected display of virtuosity by soloist
Track length0:38
Soloist suddenly takes the part of the fleeing beast
Track length0:25
Symmetrical paralels with First Movement: ' beast ' / ' drunkard ' etc
Track length0:47
Death of the quarry, end of the movement
Track length0:17
Third Movement (complete)
Track length3:13
Orchestral strings enter, part by part; soloist depicts the biting wind
Track length1:24
Wind subsides and returns, tormenting the trudgers through the snow
Track length0:53
Soloist depicts snow flurries
Track length0:27
Soloist's flurries interrupted by six blasts of orchestral wind
Track length0:32
Teeth chattering, and with stamping feet, the travellers finally reach their goal
Track length1:54
Cue to First Movement as a whole
Track length0:11
First Movement (complete)
Track length3:24
Soloist's ' aria ' accompanied by pizzicato ' raindrops '
Track length0:37
A sequence of simple scales, accompanied by opening rhythm
Track length0:33
Two scalewise ideas for the price of one: foreground and background
Track length0:52
New, rising scale-pattern unfurled with ever-greater breadth
Track length0:36
The pace increases eight-fold in concluding downwards scale
Track length0:36
Against an unvarying tempo, the pace is repeatedly varied
Track length1:03
Foreground / Background
Track length0:34
Detailed discussion of foreground / background perceptions; analogies with speech
Track length2:14
Second Movement (complete)
Track length2:19
Scene-setting; soloist begins for the first time
Track length0:47
Soloist rises progressively, in sequence, decoratively outling chord of the home key
Track length0:26
First orchestral section; ace is halved; the undermining onset of chromaticism
Track length0:47
The walkers lose their balance and stylishly fall down
Track length0:22
Soloist returns as the original solitary walker and strides away from the others
Track length0:23
One tempo, two rates of speed: fast for the soloist, slow for the orchestra
Track length1:51
Orchestra evokes the warm winds of the Sirocco
Track length0:36
Answering blast from the Borea, the could wind of the north; struggle for supremacy
Track length1:07
Cue to final movement
Track length0:23
Third Movement (complete)
Track length3:08
View download progress

Download queue