The cycle of violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons is surely known to almost everyone, not only lovers of classical music. During the concert of the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, we will hear a contemporary composition establishing an intriguing dialogue with the Baroque masterpiece. The programme also includes two well-known and popular works by Samuel Barber and Giuseppe Tartini.
Adagio for Strings is undoubtedly Samuel Barber’s most popular composition. In the original version, it is the second movement of the String Quartet in B minor op. 11. Two years later, the artist prepared a version for string orchestra and in January of the same year he sent its score to the famous Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini. After a short time, he returned it without any comment, which irritated Barber, who did not know what to expect. It turned out that Toscanini decided to include the work in the programme of the concert he conducted, and sent back the sheet music, as he memorized the Adagio after reading the score once. The work sounded in this version in November 1938 and immediately gained immense popularity. Next, the musicians will perform the Sonata in G minor “Il trillo del daivolo” by Giuseppe Tartini, an Italian artist active at the turn of Baroque and Classicism. At the root of this virtuosic, brilliant work lies a dream in which Tartini gave his violin to a visiting devil. He started playing them, and the piece he performed left the artist winded. Upon awakening, he tried to write it down, and although he produced the most popular of his works, he later claimed that what he wrote paled in comparison with what the devil played in his dream.
The second part of the concert will be filled with The Four Seasons Recomposed, written by the contemporary English artist Max Richter. It is a postmodern paraphrase of Vivaldi’s Le quattro stagioni. We hear well-known melodic phrases and rhythms here, but Richter surprises us time and again with unexpected changes to the original score. In this way, the composer plays with the expectations of the listeners, and through these treatments he also creates a completely new quality. These elements make The Four Seasons Recomposed original, fresh and engaging.