Volume 28 Issue 4 | February - March 2023

work of Vivaldi himself – unlike his music, they are considered to be
derivative and not of the highest quality.
The poems refer to not only bucolic details like the murmuring breezes
of spring or the songs and dances of fall festivals, but also the shooting of
guns and the barking of dogs. (As I sit writing this, the lines in “Winter”
(L’inverno) describing “nevi algenti” (freezing snow) and “orrido vento”
(horrible wind) speak to me most directly.) Vivaldi himself was, of course,
a highly skilled violinist and he had already forged many elements of the
style we hear here in his previous violin concerti published as Opus 3,
but even in Vivaldi’s time and place the first concerto, “Spring” (La
Primavera) was particularly admired, and it became a popular showpiece
throughout the 18th century and all over Europe.
On the record
As with all classic works, opinions are divided on which recording
of The Four Seasons is best, but with so many to choose from there
really is something for everyone — and who dares say which one is
more authentic, if I may use that loaded term, or comes closest to
expressing Vivaldi’s vision. The historical-performance movement of
the last few decades has been divisive for both players and listeners
with some claiming it has freed us, others suggesting it fetters. It
has, however, reminded us more forcefully of the merely contingent
authority held by any score (as Henry Kingsbury put it) and the role
that oral tradition plays in the performance of music from any period.
After all, in the 17th century this was new music; meant to “move
the affects,” to provoke, excite and challenge its listeners. The
performer was a partner with the composer as is the case in all music
with an improvisatory element. Playing this music still “takes an act
of imagination because the scores leave so many choices open to the
players,” as Giovanni Antonini of Il Giardino Armonico has pointed
out. His ensemble’s 1993 recording with Enrico Onofri caused a stir
when it was released, and I still remember the excitement we all felt
at hearing the liberties he took with tempi and the way they attacked
From Tafelmuisik’s 2014 Four Seasons: Cycle of the Sun: (l to r)
Inuit throat singers Beatrice Deer and, Sylvia Cloutier; Wen Zhao,
pipa; Jeanne Lamon, violin; and Aruna Narayan Kalle, sarangi.
Christina Mahler, cello, is seated behind the soloists.
some sections almost with abandon. Its verve and physicality offered
a very different interpretation than some of the more sedate performances
we had heard from larger, modern-instrument symphony
orchestras, prompting Alex Ross to write a New Yorker review titled
“Violent Vivaldi.”
Some performances experimented even more: in their 2013 London
concert, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment had their orchestral
musicians interact with dancers on stage in an attempt to bring
the sonnets’ poetic images to life even more tangibly; and on his
recording Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons,
Richter responded to the original Vivaldi concerti with his own
2022-2023 Season: A Golden Anniversary Celebration
CANTICUM
CANTICORUM
MARCH 10 & 11 AT 8PM
A Concert by Canticum Trombonorum
The most poetic book of the Bible, Song of Songs (or Song of
Solomon) is in fact a dialogue between two lovers. Canticum
Canticorum follows the journey of these famed lovers,
through spoken excerpts from each chapter, motets set
by late-Renaissance and early-baroque Italian composers,
instrumental interludes, and exploring the different possible
combinations of two trombones, organ, and a high voice.
Tickets starting at only $20
TRINITY-ST. PAUL’S CENTRE, 427 BLOOR ST WEST
Buy Tickets at TorontoConsort.org
thewholenote.com February & March, 2023 | 23