In Spring the birds sing, until their song is interrupted by a thunder-storm, a goat-herd sleeps, while his flock grazes and his faithful dog does his work for him, barking at regular intervals.
#CALM RADIO GREGORIAN CHANT SERIES#
Vivaldi added to the published score a series of poems that offer a narrative outline for the characteristic events of each season. Among his 500 or so concertos, a phenomenal output even by the standards of his own time, The Four Seasons have always proved the most popular, a set of four concertos for solo violin, strings and harpsichord. He was employed as a violin-teacher and then as director of instrumental music at a girls’ orphanage, the Ospedale della Pietà, well known for the high standard of its musical performances. Vivaldi, known as the Red Priest from the colour of his hair and his vocation, was born in 1678 in Venice, where he spent the greater part of his life. Nowadays music from this period enjoys enormous popularity and among the most popular works of all is Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. It is, however, convenient to distinguish a Baroque period in music, from about 1600 to about 1750. Dates have something arbitrary about them, particularly when it comes to cultural history. There is a certain danger in dividing the history of music into periods. VIVALDI: The Four Seasons and Concerto alla Rustica Most of the recommendations included in the guide offer also a starting-point for further exploration.ġ.
Given that one must start somewhere, suggestions are included of where one might begin, but this is only a start. The present guide has obvious limitations and modest enough intentions. Some suggestions now appear for recordings of earlier music, Gregorian chant, and vocal and instrumental music of the Renaissance, the door to a particularly rich and varied musical world. A little Beethoven should lead logically to a great deal more. Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik (‘A Little Night-Music’) might lead to the 41 symphonies or the 27 piano concertos now available. If that seems rather too much of a good thing, interesting batches of concertos have already appeared, including a release on four CDs of the complete Cello Concertos. Naxos, in fact, is undertaking the mammoth task of recording all the concertos of Vivaldi, some five hundred in all, on 75 CDs. Someone who buys and enjoys the now very familiar Four Seasons of Vivaldi might care to explore a wider range.
In the following list, a basic collection is suggested. The story of the donkey caught between two equidistant piles of hay and therefore starving to death suggests that a rough guide of some kind to record-buying might be helpful. For most of us, however, some sort of guide, however incomplete, takes some of the pain out of choosing. The moderately well-to-do might care to become Naxos enthusiasts, joining the body of collectors who now buy without question every Naxos CD that appears. The millionaire’s way out might be to buy all that is available on compact disc. Obviously one way to tackle the matter is to start by buying recordings of music that you know and like, if you know what you like and like what you know.
#CALM RADIO GREGORIAN CHANT HOW TO#
Tastes in music widen, releases of recordings multiply, and the problem remains of where and how to start. Building a classical CD collection is a matter of increasing difficulty.
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