# Vivaldi - beyond the four seasons



## John Galt (Feb 3, 2015)

I recently listened to Vivaldi, and started with The four seasons, which is supposed to be the highlight. I enjoyed "Spring", 1st and 3rd movement. The rest was okay. Is there more of Vivaldi that is worth listening to?


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## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

John Galt said:


> I recently listened to Vivaldi, and started with The four seasons, which is supposed to be the highlight. I enjoyed "Spring", 1st and 3rd movement. The rest was okay. Is there more of Vivaldi that is worth listening to?


Gloriaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


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## Guest (Feb 10, 2015)

Try l'Estro Armonico, La Stravananza, and La Cetra--all are wonderful concerti.


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## John Galt (Feb 3, 2015)

Wood said:


> Gloriaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


If it were't for the vocals, this would be great!


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

There are the Four Seasons, of course. Everyone has a copy of one version or another, don't they? I have another few albums of assorted concerti, all imaginable configurations, that I picked up at local shops used: 2 mandolins, lute, recorder, violin, cellos, flutes, trumpets, recorders and strings, violin and lute, etc. I am not a great connoisseur of Vivaldi's music, so this pretty much fills my appetite.

The one album that I feel goes that extra measure and stands out above the rest:









5 Concerti (transcribed for guitar)
Los Romeros, Brown/Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

I believe this album is available as a reissue with another cover. Vivaldi often transcribed his works for other instruments and the guitar was in existence in his time, according to the notes. The performance has a Spanish flavour and is possibly my favourite Vivaldi album.


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## Loge (Oct 30, 2014)

Apart from the aforementioned Gloria, I really like his Concerto in G Major. Here arranged for the guitar.


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## Ludric (Oct 29, 2014)

Here are a few works to try out:

Concerto for Two Cellos in G Minor, RV 531





Concerto for four violins in B minor, RV 580





Concerto in d minor, RV242


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

I think it was Stravinsky who said Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 500 times. And if you listen to them in bulk, it can seem that way.

My opinion, Vivaldi is a great composer and probably the easiest composer to enjoy, due to his lyricism, the relative shortness of most of his works, and the fact that his work is more rhythmically driven.

Past the four seasons, here are some of my personal favorites
Concerto for Four Violins in D major, and another in b minor (which Bach also arranged for concerto with four harpsichords, which is outstanding IMO)
Concerto, "Le Tempest di Mare"
Flute Concerto in g minor, "La Notte"


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## John Galt (Feb 3, 2015)

I think Vivaldi is too much violin for me, even if I liked some of the "Four seasons" pieces.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

John Galt said:


> I think Vivaldi is too much violin for me, even if I liked some of the "Four seasons" pieces.


Yeah, it's like Debussy said about opera: too much singing.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

John Galt said:


> I think Vivaldi is too much violin for me, even if I liked some of the "Four seasons" pieces.


There's always the concertos for instruments other than violin :lol:


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

John Galt said:


> I recently listened to Vivaldi, and started with The four seasons, which is supposed to be the highlight. I enjoyed "Spring", 1st and 3rd movement. The rest was okay. Is there more of Vivaldi that is worth listening to?


None whatsoever.

This skim the surface at lightning speed approach, which is so quick and superficial that it is more akin to speed dating or dumpster diving and nowhere near anything close to the lesser meaning of the word "delving," has little or no effect. It is yielding so little in the way of success as to what is sought that the time and effort put in on your part and those who have contributed is far out of proportion to the little gained.

This is my take on observing the threads you have created, that the time you are putting in and the collective time contributors putting in is in a disproportionate ratio of what is actually yielded in the way of, for you, a piece that takes as per your tastes and criteria. The 'success' rate simply does not justify the means of time spent.

This is exactly what I recommend for the moment: 
Other than making your own excursions as per your whim(s), give up on asking for these classical recommendations for at least a little while.

You can do our own investigating via the tons of lists of recommended repertoire, by genre and composer, available so many places, here and from classical music journals, BBC radio, etc. that I would say try there, and once you have found more than one or two movements of a piece by this composer or that, you will better know what you are looking for. Currently, this dozens of good recommendations netting but one movement of one piece for you is, I believe a waste of your time and the cumulative time and effort put in by others.

Once you've built up a 'likes' list of a greater number of pieces, and composers, and can make that known, then those you ask will have a much better idea of what to suggest to you. Now, it is like shooting darts at a target, but everyone is in a completely dark room, with no idea whatsoever where the target is, even.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

_The Four Seasons_ are just the first 4 of a set of 12 concerti - _ Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention)_ As to whether any of them are worth listening to ... that's not for me to say.


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## Leonius (Jan 8, 2015)

I actually enjoy Vivaldi's continuous melodies and his frequent use of syncopations.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Never heard a Vivaldi I didn't like. Don't intend to try, either!


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

John Galt,
At this stage your best option is probably to generate a random number between 1 and 700-and-whatever, and use that to decide which RV number to listen to.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

You may (or may not) like this ...






But yeah, I'd say PetrB's advice is well worth taking on board (to say the very least).


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## StephenTC (Apr 24, 2014)

*If you do not find every movement of the 4 season MAGNIFICENT, you may need a better*

If you do not find EVERY movement of the 4 seasons MAGNIFICENT, you may need a better performance / recording;

I recommend, 








Anne Sophie Mutter / von Karajan 1984

At first my favourite was the harmony and melody of Spring, then the warmth of Autumn, then that magnificent sultry SUMMER STORM you get at the end of a long hot day, these days my favourite is the stabbing iceyness that Karajan creates in the introduction to Winter and the final winter storm episode.

When Anne Sophie really digs the bow into the strings she digs into my heart.


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## leafman (Dec 21, 2014)

John Galt said:


> I recently listened to Vivaldi, and started with The four seasons, which is supposed to be the highlight. I enjoyed "Spring", 1st and 3rd movement. The rest was okay. Is there more of Vivaldi that is worth listening to?


Such a question does not reflect well.

Spend time listening and make up your own mind. Others cannot determine what you may find "worth listening to." lol Good lord.


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## leafman (Dec 21, 2014)

There is great variety in the music of Vivaldi. He worked basically in a music laboratory of different performers on different instruments and wrote music for various individuals on those many different instruments at the Ospedale della Pieta, girls' orphanage in Venice. 

By all historical accounts Reverend Vivaldi was a very talented violin virtuoso that could have sustained an illustrious career in that regard alone. No doubt, many of his works display a penchant for pushing violin performances to the limit. On the otherhand, many of his works focus on other instruments as well as the human voice.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

I find most Vivaldi to be barbaric and malevolent.


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## GodNickSatan (Feb 28, 2013)

Honestly Vivaldi is a composer I've never had much interest in exploring.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Any Vivaldi album played by the great cellist Sol Gabetta.


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

I heartily recommend the Concerto for 2 Mandolins in G major.


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## Guest (Feb 11, 2015)

This album, after the 4 Seasons, has always been my favorite Vivaldi recording. It includes a few different woodwind instruments. In addition, there are various Vivaldi concertos for instruments other than violin. His mandolin concertos are very enjoyable.


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## Guest (Feb 11, 2015)

What recording of the Four Seasons did you choose, that left you only enjoying 2 movements? Try exploring more - with baroque, especially, a lot of people find that the mode of performance greatly affects their appreciation of the music - i.e. performances on modern instruments with modern practices vs. performances on period instruments that aim for historical accuracy. If you haven't, I highly recommend listening to the Four Seasons recording by Giuliano Carmignola with Andrea Marcon and the Venice Baroque Orchestra.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

DrMike said:


> This album, after the 4 Seasons, has always been my favorite Vivaldi recording. It includes a few different woodwind instruments. In addition, there are various Vivaldi concertos for instruments other than violin. His mandolin concertos are very enjoyable.
> 
> View attachment 63626


I second this selection.


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## leafman (Dec 21, 2014)

GGluek said:


> I find most Vivaldi to be barbaric and malevolent.


There ya go! Definitely hot-blooded! Right-on, dude!


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

John Galt said:


> I recently listened to Vivaldi, and started with The four seasons, which is supposed to be the highlight. I enjoyed "Spring", 1st and 3rd movement. The rest was okay. Is there more of Vivaldi that is worth listening to?


His operas. There are a series of very enjoyable ones on the Naive record label.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Ah, Vivaldi.

Before I say anything more, I advise you to take to heart leafman's comment above: "Spend time listening and make up your own mind. Others cannot determine what you may find 'worth listening to.'."

I have long cherished one Vivaldi violin concerto -- No.6 in A minor RV356 from the Op.3 "L'Estro Armonico". When someone invokes the Dallapiccola remark that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 600 times, I challenge them to listen to RV356 as a comparison to what they had in mind as the "single sounding" concerto of Vivaldi's oeuvre. True, RV356 follows the familiar Vivaldi pattern, and it is a work that cannot be mistaken for anyone else, but it's indicative of the melodic variety of which Vivaldi is quite capable.
Interestingly enough, I came to this A minor Concerto not by way of a certain violinist's recording, but through a disc by Larry Adler, the great harmonica player.









And to this day, after hearing dozens of recordings of the work performed by violinists, many of them renowned performers, I still favor Larry Adler's reading. It was my introduction into Vivaldi, an introduction that has led to many fruitful hours of wonderful listening exploring the vast collection of sounds from the pen of the Red Priest.






Some years back I picked up the Brilliant Classics 40 CD box set titled "THE MASTERWORKS: ANTONIO VIVALDI". It features a hardy assortment of Vivaldi's music, not a complete sampling, but enough to whet the chops of anyone remotely interested in this fine Italian Baroque composer. The box features at least 200 concertos, including representatives of probably every instrument Vivaldi wrote for (violin, multiple violins, viola, cello, lute, mandolin, organ, recorders, flute, oboe, bassoon, diverse instruments ...); you also get a sampling of sonatas, cantatas, the oratorio _Juditha Triumphans_, and the opera_ L'Olympiad_. These may not be the best recordings available of the individual works, but I've found them all satisfactory. And the box set is likely a bargain to one who wants to explore Vivaldi further than the _Four Seasons_, which are included in the box set, on Disc No. 1, in fact.









I remain hopeful that someday there will be a complete collection of Vivaldi's music in one available source -- a giant box set it will be, no doubt. But I'm up for that. In the meantime I must be content to experience Vivaldi in less than complete measure. But there is still so much there as to be nearly inexhaustible.

I have long collected _Four Seasons _recordings, seeking favorable interpretations and great sound recording, and have acquired some couple dozen. Unlike recordings of Bach's _Brandenburgs_, of which I have more sets than sets of the _Four Seasons_, the Vivaldi string sound allows for fewer variations in sound, and thus the Bach Concerti make for more intriguing collecting. But there are some wonderful critically acclaimed recordings of the Four Seasons available, and a Google search will reveal these to the interested listener. If you must have only one recording of these four violin concerti, then one of the critically praised editions will serve you, I'm sure. However, I can't imagine any fan of this music settling for just one interpretation.

Finally, should one want just one Vivaldi work to turn to after hearing the _Four Seasons_, I recommend the Flute Concerto in D, RV428 subtitled _Il gardellino_.

Here is Sir James Galway in a performance of that glorious work:






The same concerto 600 times? Sorry Signor Dallapiccola. No way.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

John Galt said:


> If it were't for the vocals, this would be great!


I mainly like Vivaldi's religious choral works.


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## echmain (Jan 18, 2013)

You should seek out that rare recording of Vivaldi's 5th season. Absolutely incredible.


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## leafman (Dec 21, 2014)

Sonnet- good post, man.

Knowledgeable music devotees spend too much time responding to stupid remarks made by the likes of Dallapiccola and Stravinsky. They're just jealous. Sour grapes. LOL

I'd like to see a well-done movie about Vivaldi but the various facets of his life are way open for a salacious and prurient treatment from Hollywood. Wait a minute, that may make it a hit in today's movie market!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

echmain said:


> You should seek out that rare recording of Vivaldi's 5th season. Absolutely incredible.


Is that the one where some guy presumably on You Tube played all four seasons simultaneously and recorded it?

I made that up, but it could be interesting.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

leafman said:


> I'd like to see a well-done *movie about Vivaldi* but the various facets of his life are way *open for a salacious and prurient treatment from Hollywood*. Wait a minute, that may make it a hit in today's movie market!


What in the biography of Vivaldi could possibly lead to "a salacious and prurient treatment" in a film version of the composer's life? After all, the guy was a priest who worked in a school for girls!!!

Ah ... maybe he fiddled around with the fiddles a little too much?


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## leafman (Dec 21, 2014)

SONNET CLV said:


> What in the biography of Vivaldi could possibly lead to "a salacious and prurient treatment" in a film version of the composer's life? After all, the guy was a priest who worked in a school for girls!!!
> 
> Ah ... maybe he fiddled around with the fiddles a little too much?


Yeah, somebody may try to make something out of that but there was never any hearsay or accusations concerning the poor orphanage girls.

Antonio's biggest issue was elsewhere. Apparently he was inseparable from a certain young female singer to the extent that the Cardinal of Ferrara banned him from the city....


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

I don't know if it's physically possible to run out of Vivaldi. By the time you've finished listening to all his works, you'll probably have forgotten lots of them.


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## leafman (Dec 21, 2014)

MoonlightSonata said:


> I don't know if it's physically possible to run out of Vivaldi. By the time you've finished listening to all his works, you'll probably have forgotten lots of them.


And then you can start anew all over again!

.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

The Vivaldi cello concertos were great to listen to last month... three volumes from Sol Gabetta.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

John Galt said:


> If it were't for the vocals, this would be great!


Sad...the Baroque Era was such a fertile period for outstanding vocal music. Too bad so many Classical Music fans have a strange bias against it. I used to dislike vocal music too. Now, I can't remember for the life of me why that was.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

violadude said:


> Sad...the Baroque Era was such a fertile period for outstanding vocal music. Too bad so many Classical Music fans have a strange bias against it. I used to dislike vocal music too. Now, I can't remember for the life of me why that was.


A lot of people hate Baroque opera because a lot of it is vocal pyrotechnics... but for me that is my showstopper! I dig that stuff all day long.


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## Handel (Apr 18, 2007)

Nereffid said:


> John Galt,
> At this stage your best option is probably to generate a random number between 1 and 700-and-whatever, and use that to decide which RV number to listen to.


I have to agree. There are so many. I could identify one for each instrument and the list would be so long.
Still, I will identify a few that I personnally appreciate.

*Concerto for 2 trumpets in C major RV 537*





*Concerto for violin, 2 horns, 2 oboes and bassoon in F Major RV 571*





*Concerto for 2 Violins, Cello, Strings and B.C. in D minor RV 565*





So many, so many.


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## Handel (Apr 18, 2007)

May I add one of the most original concertos from Vivaldi. Concerto for two recorders, two chalumeaux, two mandolins,
two theorbos, two violins in tromba marina, violoncello and strings (RV 558). Love those ancient instruments.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

GodNickSatan said:


> Honestly Vivaldi is a composer I've never had much interest in exploring.


Me neither. He seems to have written the same concerto several hundred times with minor variations.


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## Baregrass (Feb 16, 2015)

Here is one of my favorite Vivaldi pieces:

Concerto for Violincello and Strings in Bm. Played by Anner Blysma and Tafelmusik on this album:


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