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Classics Explained: VIVALDI - The Four Seasons

An exploration of The Four Seasons narrated by Jeremy Sipeman

Jeremy Siepmann (reader)

  • Catalogue No: 8558028-29
  • Label: Naxos
  • Series: Educational, Classics Explained
  • Length: 1 hour 58 minutes

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Contents

Vivaldi: An Introduction to … VIVALDI: The 4 Seasons

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  • Jeremy Siepmann (reader)

Introduction: Opening, upward-pointing figure

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Answering, downward figure completes the phrase

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Beginning of dialogue

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The nature of musical conversation; repetition; ' echo ' effect

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Upward pointing to one ' target ' note

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' Answer ' points to two, downward notes

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Same idea repeated 3 times

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The first Solo section: birdsong from three soloists, not one

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Repeat of ' two-pronged ' theme in orchestra

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Orchestra depicts murmuring stream, but still there's no real melody

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Further illustrative ' water studies '

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Orchestra erupts into thunderstorm

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Orchestral thunder, virtuosic ' lightning ' from soloist - but still no ' tune '

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Soloistic ' birds ' return to the air

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Variant of opening theme, with ' argument ' between two notes, one high, one low

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Cue to First Movement

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First Movement (Complete)

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Scene setting and Main Theme of Second Movement

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Analytical comment and Main Theme again

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Main Theme varied

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Further variation, tracing slow, descending scale-steps

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Analytical discussion of ' pace ' and ' tempo ' ; further variant of main theme

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Vivaldi springs a surprise, reversing direction and heightening tension

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Analytical cue to Second Movement

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Second Movement (Complete)

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Undercover ' bagpipes ' initiate the finale

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Second part of Main Theme: new notes, same rhythm

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An ' echo ' with a difference

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Reminder of ' echoed ' phrase in its original form

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Surprise variant provides springboard into new descending four-note pattern

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Unexpected, ' flowing ' entrance of soloist

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The use of ' sequence ' in first extended solo

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Vivaldi prepares expectation...

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... and frustrates it by bringing in a new theme, using his four-note ' motto '

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Violins accompanied by flowing ' commentary ' in lower strings

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Soloist returns with new variant

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Pace slows as violins trace another four-note scalewise descent

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The peasants return with the main theme, which turns unexpectedly downward

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Intensification as harmonies change under broad, descending four-note ' motto '

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Mini-earthquake transformed into harmonic landslide

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Critical mood-change in soloist's lonely soliloquy

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Cue to restoration of main theme in its entirety as the movement ends

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Third Movement (complete)

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Scene setting and opening of First Movement

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Expanded groups of answering phrase

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Upper and lower strings alternately succumb to lethargy

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As in ' Spring ', soloist enters with birdsong

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Orchestra hijacks soloist's material

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Soloist returns,first as turtle-dove, then as goldfinch

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Gentle breezes give away to North Wing

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The storm subsides; soloist enters as weeping peasant boy

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Movement ends as storm returns

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First Movement (complete)

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Second movement opens with extremecontrasts

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Second Movement (complete)

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Stormy Weather; thunder

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Lightning from upper strings

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More lightning: ' heat ' lightning from violins, ' fork ' lightning from violas

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Torrential rain, depicted by entire orchestra

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Deferred entry of solo violin, in virtuoso vein

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Peasant's failing resolve as violin spirals down

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Nature triumphant; soloist draws on orchestra's 'rain' music

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The peasant's capitulation

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Third Movement (complete)

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Repetitiousness and folk music; the movement's opening

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Secondary theme, a closely related development of the first

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Solo entry restates the opening theme, ' double-stopping '

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Unexpectedly, a new theme where a repeat might be expected

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The soloist as ' drunkard '

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Further violinistic slips and slides

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Orchestra re-enters with main theme, but is interrupted by the drunkard

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Other drunks join in ' dialogue ' with the orchestra

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The orchestral peasants continue their dancing, but things have changed

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Enter another drunk, courtesy of the virtuoso soloist

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The dance breaks up

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The drunkard interrupts again, then falls asleep, breathing heavily

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Conversation amongst the sober peasants leads to their final dance

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First Movement (complete)

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Scene-setting for Second Movement

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Second Movement (complete)

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Similarities between the Third Movement and the First

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Expectation and surprise: Vivaldi tacks on one bar too many

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A case of predictable unpredictablity: novelty and repetition

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Soloist's double-stopping depicts hunting horns

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Orchestra yields to unexpected display of virtuosity by soloist

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Soloist suddenly takes the part of the fleeing beast

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Symmetrical paralels with First Movement: ' beast ' / ' drunkard ' etc

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Death of the quarry, end of the movement

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Third Movement (complete)

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Orchestral strings enter, part by part; soloist depicts the biting wind

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Wind subsides and returns, tormenting the trudgers through the snow

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Soloist depicts snow flurries

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Soloist's flurries interrupted by six blasts of orchestral wind

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Teeth chattering, and with stamping feet, the travellers finally reach their goal

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Cue to First Movement as a whole

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First Movement (complete)

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Soloist's ' aria ' accompanied by pizzicato ' raindrops '

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A sequence of simple scales, accompanied by opening rhythm

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Two scalewise ideas for the price of one: foreground and background

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New, rising scale-pattern unfurled with ever-greater breadth

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The pace increases eight-fold in concluding downwards scale

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Against an unvarying tempo, the pace is repeatedly varied

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Foreground / Background

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Detailed discussion of foreground / background perceptions; analogies with speech

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Second Movement (complete)

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Scene-setting; soloist begins for the first time

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Soloist rises progressively, in sequence, decoratively outling chord of the home key

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First orchestral section; ace is halved; the undermining onset of chromaticism

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The walkers lose their balance and stylishly fall down

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Soloist returns as the original solitary walker and strides away from the others

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One tempo, two rates of speed: fast for the soloist, slow for the orchestra

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Orchestra evokes the warm winds of the Sirocco

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Answering blast from the Borea, the could wind of the north; struggle for supremacy

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Cue to final movement

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Third Movement (complete)

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