I personally consider Vivaldi's “The Four Seasons” to be the culmination of Baroque music. Not only is it used in all kinds of visual works, but it is also a masterpiece that has had a profound influence on the music industry. Yes guitarist Steve Howe is also a fan of Vivaldi and has arranged and covered the second movement of Vivaldi's lute concerto and played it solo on “Symphonic Live” in 2001, so please give it a listen! Of course, you should also listen to the original, the complete Vivaldi lute concerto!
Professional soloists almost always play from memory. When I was in college, pianists were never allowed to use music during recitals. For the other instrumentalists, it was optional. I preferred to memorize my music (classical guitar). It helped me to focus on the aesthetic that I was trying to portray through the instrument.
As a choral musician, I would love to see you react to some choral compositions. John Rutter’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis are three of my favorites that spring to mind immediately but there are so many others.
I saw this performed by the Halle Orchestra in The Bridgewater Hall ( almost 2400 capacity ) in Manchester, England, in 2017. Absolutely fabulous. A full orchestra playing this is fantastic.
I'm excited about this. I'm more of a late romantic/modern music person. But hot damn, Vivaldi was a genius and this is a masterpiece. It actually brings tears to my eyes thinking about somebody without electricity and on what barely resembles a piano today came up with this.
You just can't go wrong with Vivaldi. His music is always delightful and enjoyable. Even the great J.S.Bach loved Vivaldi so much that he transcribed several of Vivaldi's concertos for different instrumentation (and those are wonderful as well!). This performance was simply wonderful, with the players looking like they too were enjoying themselves . And it was great fun watching you discovering Vivaldi. My personal favorite of Vivaldi's is his Concerto for Four Violins (and Bach's transcription of it for four harpsichords, which is wonderful in itself although I prefer it played on four pianos. It gives me goosebumps).
It makes me all the more upset when people say this, because the only problem with The Four Seasons is that people say it's overrated or that it's overplayed. Whilst that is true, people are truly ignoring the fact that it's one of the most influential pieces of programmatic music during the Baroque period leading the Classical era of music. Perhaps you can have too much of a good thing before it becomes tiring. That's of course not to say that this piece isn't PHENOMENAL!
I heard it at least a million times on Saturday mornings because it was one of my father's favorites along with some other stuff like Handel and Corelli...
I saw in a video by a spanish RUclipsr how Vivaldi pictures things that he saw in his time through these 4 violin concertos, each dedicated to each season and corresponding sonets. In that video he explains in detail what the little motifs in each of the three movements of the four concertos mean, like "this is supposed to resemble a bird, this one a drunk man and this one a pair of dudes falling to the ground in winter because of the ice." Basically, the spanish RUclipsr describes Vivaldi as the 'first film composer' because he gives music to a poem, almost like a soundtrack. Unfortunately, there's no English subtitles on the video I'm talking about, but it's worth checking out!
While I grew up this style of music was what I heard every day. I grew to like it very much. The funny thing was when I got interested in ELP, Focus, Pink Floyd and Yes my parents also grew to like them as well. In their mind the alternative rock was classical music played on different instruments. Both designed to tell a story of feelings in music. Both my parents are gone now but I miss those days listening as a family to some really really good music. Thanks for bringing up a wonderful memory🙋♂😊
Speaking of evoking a story, I will take some pains and nag again: - Vangelis: Theme From Antarctica (full 7-minute piece) - Vangelis: Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria - Vangelis: Hispanola - Vangelis: Aquatic Dance - Vangelis: Sirens' Whispering - Vangelis: The City (full album) - Andreas Vollenweider: Caverna Magica - Andreas Vollenweider: Hall of the Stairs, Hall of the Mosaics - Andreas Vollenweider: Behind the Gardens, Behind the Wall, Under the Tree - Andreas Vollenweider: Morning at Boma Park - Andreas Vollenweider: Moon Dance - Andreas Vollenweider: Morgana Palace - Andreas Vollenweider: Stella - Andreas Vollenweider: Golden Bird - Andreas Vollenweider: The Five Sisters - Mike Oldfield: Mont St. Michel And as for dog barking: Jean-Michel Jarre: Equinoxe 7 (version from The Concerts in China). Though sampled, it fits so beautifully with all the sound-soup in the finale.
Another insightful reaction! This is such a powerful and gorgeous piece of music. I saw it live some years ago and it was quite the experience. If you ever have the chance to experience this piece live, by all means do so!
From here you can go two ways. To lap up a lot more of the Italian sunshine and have a chance to strut your funkies you need to go to Boccherini's Guitar Quintet No. 4 "The Fandango". If you want to see serious fretwankery classical style you need to check out Locatelli's "Art of the Violin" there's a rare live performance of the A major concerto on here.
@JustJP Sorry for being a little late to the party on this one... thank you for the mention at the start, and I'm happy that you enjoyed the music. This one was particularly great to listen to here with the words of the sonnets on screen at just the right moments. I've not experienced it that way previously, so I never realised just how perfectly the music fits the sonnets, which it truly does. I realise the Voices of Music channel deserves the lion's share of the credit for those words being on screen in that way, but nonetheless, they served your reaction very well too!
Fantastic rendition. Didn't know this one. Wonderful 😮 I wish you to listen to Beethoven Symphony 6 & 7, Rachmaninov piano concertos 1,2,3, Dvorak Symphonie du nouveau monde, Ravel Bolero, Tchaïkovski Violon concerto, Mendelssohn, anything from him. Wagner Lohengrin intro, Rossini La gazza laddra intro...
Captivating gorgeous rendition. Vivaldi is stunning, and this is ubiquitously regarded as one of his best - but since you loved this so much you should go on, maybe try one of his cello concertos, they're all amazing. I see Vivaldi as one of the twin peaks of the baroque period, along with Bach of course. But where Bach is swirling in eternity with the perfection of the music of the spheres, Vivaldi is down here on the Earth, in the wildness of nature and the passionate breasts of lovers. There's no one like Vivaldi - while all his contemporaries were conforming to stately proper pomp and patronage amid powdered wigs, Mr. V was blowing the lids off their senses. He was the Jimi Hendrix of his day. And yeah, they don't always need sheet music, especially the soloists. Does Yes use sheet music when they're playing Gates of Delirium? Of course they've practiced it to death, and know it by heart, and usually the score just serves to make sure they stay in formation, and don't forget anything or goof a hard part. And with a piece like this, the soloists likely have specialized in it, and this isn't their first rodeo - they may have decades of listening, playing, and loving this piece.
One of the pleasures that comes from listening to this a lot is that eventually you get to know what comes next, so you listen in anticipation much of the time. So if you can get to know this piece well by just listening, just how much more does it become ingrained in some groove in the groovy part of one's brain cavity if playing it for years? The people I know who're good at remembering poetry (well that would actually be my mother and brother, but anyway) say they remember what comes after the last word of each line. And somehow knowing the first word gives you the whole next line. I think it's even possible to learn this kind of thing systematically. For the lead parts in the music, anyway, that's how I imagine things work. For the "backing parts" it must be more difficult, though? It's not the melody you have to remember, but the harmony to use this time round. As far as this performance goes, to me the most "familiar" part is the storm, with everyone playing with "classical synchronicity", all in lockstep, all components in a machine, almost. If you listen to other versions of this, you're going to find that that's how the whole thing is generally done. But that makes especially the first part more interesting to me, because they give it a fresh interpretation. I think maybe they even swing a bit? Instead of using a "bank of instruments" to assemble multi-instrument chords, they let the lead and second violins "talk to each other". I'm no judge of this, but I think they did a great job of that. One of the characteristics of a sufficiently good song (or "song"), IMHO, is that it can form the basis for a variety of interpretations - kind of like what happens to jazz standards. And yes, the technique of the classical musicians is sometimes frighteningly virtuoso. I've heard it's a bit of a rat race in there. Dog eat dog. Kill or be killed. All work, no play, lots of anxiety. Or it can be - maybe only when fighting to win the spot as first violin, or something like that. It's one of those situations that can generate quality (not something that's always guaranteed by competition, since to win all you need to do is ensure someone else loses, if you're cunning enough), but also might have some stifling effect, too. I'm not completely sure I approve (with the understanding that if they wanted my opinion on this they would beat it out of me, as the great chimp poster put it), but without it this level of teamwork wouldn't happen, probably. But yes, who cares what I think. :D
Hey there, loved your oldfield and wakeman listens. Now classical music? Oh yes! You should listen to the Danish folk group Dreamers Circus. Huge repertoire of pieces, some switching back and forth between folk and classical. Their violinist is also part of the group the Dsnish string quartet. You could listen to their mon sessions or city garden. They've done seversl renditions of the latter, but perhaps tge best is when they are joined by the Danish girls choir.
They've probably all memorized this whole thing, especially since it's such a well-known piece. The sheet music is mostly for insurance, and if the soloist NEEDS sheet music, that's an indication of lack of practice (and hence professionalism, if it's for an actual concert or recording). Even as a kid (but for solo piano) in a conservatory, we had to pass a "workshop" before the actual recital. The workshop was the place to make mistakes and ask questions about interpretation, but I imagine if someone at the workshop stage hadn't memorized their piece by then, the teacher would likely not let the student perform in the recital, which would be a BFD.
There was also a performance of the 4 seasons that took out some parts that would not happen under climate change, and they took out different parts of the pieces dependent on where you are in the world to show the dangers of the climate change. Haunting even.
Great! I can be the first to say that I preferred the Frankie Valli line-up. And the first to do the Billy Connolly joke - there are two seasons in Scotland - June and Winter. This is an impressive piece of music though, having heard the 'greatest hits' bits too often, I'm not that keen to hear it again.
Justin, as you enjoyed autumn second part (adagio), please try Al santo sepolcro, conducted by Karaian, having a pretty similar harmonic structure, it belongs to the late Vivaldi. Vivaldi at his best to me, you won't regret.
Notice how the lead violinist conducts the other musicians with her body movement and her violin. Fun fact , Summer was used in John Wick 2, and Winter in John Wick 3. And yes, she has it all memorized. This is common for soloists to do so that they may concentrate on interpretation. Her interpretation is unusual; i encourage you to listen another to hear the difference. I give you Chloe Chua, at 16 years old i believe. ruclips.net/video/W44PFMXuy_Q/видео.html ruclips.net/video/mnsZHakRnlw/видео.html
Thanks, great channel! 😀 I spend quite a lot of time here, on and off, so I wanted to send a contribution your way to help with supporting it. Take care!
I personally consider Vivaldi's “The Four Seasons” to be the culmination of Baroque music. Not only is it used in all kinds of visual works, but it is also a masterpiece that has had a profound influence on the music industry.
Yes guitarist Steve Howe is also a fan of Vivaldi and has arranged and covered the second movement of Vivaldi's lute concerto and played it solo on “Symphonic Live” in 2001, so please give it a listen!
Of course, you should also listen to the original, the complete Vivaldi lute concerto!
In my opinion, this is one of the best renditions of the Four Seasons on RUclips. Voices of Music is a phenomenal channel.
Professional soloists almost always play from memory.
When I was in college, pianists were never allowed to use music during recitals. For the other instrumentalists, it was optional. I preferred to memorize my music (classical guitar). It helped me to focus on the aesthetic that I was trying to portray through the instrument.
As a choral musician, I would love to see you react to some choral compositions. John Rutter’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis are three of my favorites that spring to mind immediately but there are so many others.
This was a superb version you made us discover. Merci JP. I rediscover it thanks to you.
I saw this performed by the Halle Orchestra in The Bridgewater Hall ( almost 2400 capacity ) in Manchester, England, in 2017. Absolutely fabulous. A full orchestra playing this is fantastic.
I'm excited about this.
I'm more of a late romantic/modern music person. But hot damn, Vivaldi was a genius and this is a masterpiece. It actually brings tears to my eyes thinking about somebody without electricity and on what barely resembles a piano today came up with this.
For anyone interested in finding out more about Vivaldi, Rick Wakeman did a fascinating documentary about him which is also on You Tube.
You just can't go wrong with Vivaldi. His music is always delightful and enjoyable. Even the great J.S.Bach loved Vivaldi so much that he transcribed several of Vivaldi's concertos for different instrumentation (and those are wonderful as well!). This performance was simply wonderful, with the players looking like they too were enjoying themselves . And it was great fun watching you discovering Vivaldi. My personal favorite of Vivaldi's is his Concerto for Four Violins (and Bach's transcription of it for four harpsichords, which is wonderful in itself although I prefer it played on four pianos. It gives me goosebumps).
It makes me all the more upset when people say this, because the only problem with The Four Seasons is that people say it's overrated or that it's overplayed. Whilst that is true, people are truly ignoring the fact that it's one of the most influential pieces of programmatic music during the Baroque period leading the Classical era of music. Perhaps you can have too much of a good thing before it becomes tiring. That's of course not to say that this piece isn't PHENOMENAL!
The best rendition of this masterpiece is by Nigel Kennedy first recorded by him in 1989. Just fantastic!
I heard it at least a million times on Saturday mornings because it was one of my father's favorites along with some other stuff like Handel and Corelli...
Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. All he did was compose them all.😂✌️&❤
beautiful ensemble playing ❤
It really is :) Hope you're having a great day soozb!
I saw in a video by a spanish RUclipsr how Vivaldi pictures things that he saw in his time through these 4 violin concertos, each dedicated to each season and corresponding sonets. In that video he explains in detail what the little motifs in each of the three movements of the four concertos mean, like "this is supposed to resemble a bird, this one a drunk man and this one a pair of dudes falling to the ground in winter because of the ice." Basically, the spanish RUclipsr describes Vivaldi as the 'first film composer' because he gives music to a poem, almost like a soundtrack.
Unfortunately, there's no English subtitles on the video I'm talking about, but it's worth checking out!
While I grew up this style of music was what I heard every day. I grew to like it very much. The funny thing was when I got interested in ELP, Focus, Pink Floyd and Yes my parents also grew to like them as well. In their mind the alternative rock was classical music played on different instruments. Both designed to tell a story of feelings in music. Both my parents are gone now but I miss those days listening as a family to some really really good music. Thanks for bringing up a wonderful memory🙋♂😊
The "captions" were also included in the original manuscript by Vivaldi. It was written in Italian, as expected.
Speaking of evoking a story, I will take some pains and nag again:
- Vangelis: Theme From Antarctica (full 7-minute piece)
- Vangelis: Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria
- Vangelis: Hispanola
- Vangelis: Aquatic Dance
- Vangelis: Sirens' Whispering
- Vangelis: The City (full album)
- Andreas Vollenweider: Caverna Magica
- Andreas Vollenweider: Hall of the Stairs, Hall of the Mosaics
- Andreas Vollenweider: Behind the Gardens, Behind the Wall, Under the Tree
- Andreas Vollenweider: Morning at Boma Park
- Andreas Vollenweider: Moon Dance
- Andreas Vollenweider: Morgana Palace
- Andreas Vollenweider: Stella
- Andreas Vollenweider: Golden Bird
- Andreas Vollenweider: The Five Sisters
- Mike Oldfield: Mont St. Michel
And as for dog barking: Jean-Michel Jarre: Equinoxe 7 (version from The Concerts in China). Though sampled, it fits so beautifully with all the sound-soup in the finale.
Love it.
Another insightful reaction! This is such a powerful and gorgeous piece of music. I saw it live some years ago and it was quite the experience. If you ever have the chance to experience this piece live, by all means do so!
From here you can go two ways. To lap up a lot more of the Italian sunshine and have a chance to strut your funkies you need to go to Boccherini's Guitar Quintet No. 4 "The Fandango".
If you want to see serious fretwankery classical style you need to check out Locatelli's "Art of the Violin" there's a rare live performance of the A major concerto on here.
@JustJP Sorry for being a little late to the party on this one... thank you for the mention at the start, and I'm happy that you enjoyed the music. This one was particularly great to listen to here with the words of the sonnets on screen at just the right moments. I've not experienced it that way previously, so I never realised just how perfectly the music fits the sonnets, which it truly does. I realise the Voices of Music channel deserves the lion's share of the credit for those words being on screen in that way, but nonetheless, they served your reaction very well too!
Ok. Now you have to see the Rick Wakeman Four Seasons special.
Fantastic rendition. Didn't know this one. Wonderful 😮
I wish you to listen to Beethoven Symphony 6 & 7, Rachmaninov piano concertos 1,2,3, Dvorak Symphonie du nouveau monde, Ravel Bolero, Tchaïkovski Violon concerto, Mendelssohn, anything from him. Wagner Lohengrin intro, Rossini La gazza laddra intro...
Captivating gorgeous rendition. Vivaldi is stunning, and this is ubiquitously regarded as one of his best - but since you loved this so much you should go on, maybe try one of his cello concertos, they're all amazing. I see Vivaldi as one of the twin peaks of the baroque period, along with Bach of course. But where Bach is swirling in eternity with the perfection of the music of the spheres, Vivaldi is down here on the Earth, in the wildness of nature and the passionate breasts of lovers. There's no one like Vivaldi - while all his contemporaries were conforming to stately proper pomp and patronage amid powdered wigs, Mr. V was blowing the lids off their senses. He was the Jimi Hendrix of his day.
And yeah, they don't always need sheet music, especially the soloists. Does Yes use sheet music when they're playing Gates of Delirium? Of course they've practiced it to death, and know it by heart, and usually the score just serves to make sure they stay in formation, and don't forget anything or goof a hard part. And with a piece like this, the soloists likely have specialized in it, and this isn't their first rodeo - they may have decades of listening, playing, and loving this piece.
Vivaldi operas like Bajazet are amazing too
One of the pleasures that comes from listening to this a lot is that eventually you get to know what comes next, so you listen in anticipation much of the time. So if you can get to know this piece well by just listening, just how much more does it become ingrained in some groove in the groovy part of one's brain cavity if playing it for years? The people I know who're good at remembering poetry (well that would actually be my mother and brother, but anyway) say they remember what comes after the last word of each line. And somehow knowing the first word gives you the whole next line. I think it's even possible to learn this kind of thing systematically. For the lead parts in the music, anyway, that's how I imagine things work. For the "backing parts" it must be more difficult, though? It's not the melody you have to remember, but the harmony to use this time round.
As far as this performance goes, to me the most "familiar" part is the storm, with everyone playing with "classical synchronicity", all in lockstep, all components in a machine, almost. If you listen to other versions of this, you're going to find that that's how the whole thing is generally done. But that makes especially the first part more interesting to me, because they give it a fresh interpretation. I think maybe they even swing a bit? Instead of using a "bank of instruments" to assemble multi-instrument chords, they let the lead and second violins "talk to each other". I'm no judge of this, but I think they did a great job of that. One of the characteristics of a sufficiently good song (or "song"), IMHO, is that it can form the basis for a variety of interpretations - kind of like what happens to jazz standards.
And yes, the technique of the classical musicians is sometimes frighteningly virtuoso. I've heard it's a bit of a rat race in there. Dog eat dog. Kill or be killed. All work, no play, lots of anxiety. Or it can be - maybe only when fighting to win the spot as first violin, or something like that. It's one of those situations that can generate quality (not something that's always guaranteed by competition, since to win all you need to do is ensure someone else loses, if you're cunning enough), but also might have some stifling effect, too. I'm not completely sure I approve (with the understanding that if they wanted my opinion on this they would beat it out of me, as the great chimp poster put it), but without it this level of teamwork wouldn't happen, probably. But yes, who cares what I think. :D
Easily one pf my favorite classical music ever written.
Hey there, loved your oldfield and wakeman listens. Now classical music? Oh yes!
You should listen to the Danish folk group Dreamers Circus. Huge repertoire of pieces, some switching back and forth between folk and classical. Their violinist is also part of the group the Dsnish string quartet. You could listen to their mon sessions or city garden. They've done seversl renditions of the latter, but perhaps tge best is when they are joined by the Danish girls choir.
They've probably all memorized this whole thing, especially since it's such a well-known piece. The sheet music is mostly for insurance, and if the soloist NEEDS sheet music, that's an indication of lack of practice (and hence professionalism, if it's for an actual concert or recording). Even as a kid (but for solo piano) in a conservatory, we had to pass a "workshop" before the actual recital. The workshop was the place to make mistakes and ask questions about interpretation, but I imagine if someone at the workshop stage hadn't memorized their piece by then, the teacher would likely not let the student perform in the recital, which would be a BFD.
There was also a performance of the 4 seasons that took out some parts that would not happen under climate change, and they took out different parts of the pieces dependent on where you are in the world to show the dangers of the climate change. Haunting even.
Great! I can be the first to say that I preferred the Frankie Valli line-up.
And the first to do the Billy Connolly joke - there are two seasons in Scotland - June and Winter.
This is an impressive piece of music though, having heard the 'greatest hits' bits too often, I'm not that keen to hear it again.
Justin, as you enjoyed autumn second part (adagio), please try Al santo sepolcro, conducted by Karaian, having a pretty similar harmonic structure, it belongs to the late Vivaldi. Vivaldi at his best to me, you won't regret.
I think this sized group is called a Chamber Orchestra. Notice there's no conductor.
Its a classic work. But have heard it too much. If you are new to it The Nigel Kennedy version is probably best.
Notice how the lead violinist conducts the other musicians with her body movement and her violin. Fun fact , Summer was used in John Wick 2, and Winter in John Wick 3. And yes, she has it all memorized. This is common for soloists to do so that they may concentrate on interpretation. Her interpretation is unusual; i encourage you to listen another to hear the difference. I give you Chloe Chua, at 16 years old i believe. ruclips.net/video/W44PFMXuy_Q/видео.html ruclips.net/video/mnsZHakRnlw/видео.html
Imo, Classical Music doesn’t get any better than this. Water Music from Handel also very good though.
oooooo you should look at the Shostakovich cello concertos. Complete opposite of this but still super interesting
Thanks, great channel! 😀 I spend quite a lot of time here, on and off, so I wanted to send a contribution your way to help with supporting it. Take care!
Hey there John! Ty ty so much! That was really kind of you. Appreciate you watching and enjoying the videos+
That's not it!
Vivaldi wrote many more violin concertos.
But only 4 could be used for 4 seasons ;)
Ann Sophie Mutter with Karajan is the best of the best , no one else 🫡👌