![]() ![]() With his unequaled gift for orchestral color and melody, if anyone could do it, Vivaldi could. Vivaldi was determined to prove that descriptive music could be sophisticated, intricate, and virtuosic enough to be taken seriously – and that it could advance the cause of the concerto at the same time. So-called ‘programme music’ existed before, but it was seen by some as inferior and regressive. Vivaldi had set himself quite a challenge, but he’d also hit upon an idea that a lot of music theorists didn’t like. In these seemingly polite and pretty works, the composer opened a philosophical can of worms that continued to brim over with wriggling controversies for centuries. The Four Seasons had the theorists frothing too. And it wasn’t just the concert-going folk of northern Italy who experienced Vivaldi’s stylistic shot-in-the-arm. They might not have provoked a riot but, when Vivaldi’s Four Seasons were first heard in the early 1720s, their audience hadn’t heard anything quite like them before. Like those other seismic cultural milestones, Vivaldi’s most popular concertos also changed the course of musical history. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Beethoven’s Fifth… and yes, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. ![]() The Four Seasons: A Guide To Vivaldi’s Radical Violin Concertos Listen to our recommended recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons performed by Janine Jansen now. Our guide to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons analyses the secret of the concertos’ runaway success and explains why this now-familiar music was so radical for its time. The four violin concertos broke new ground with their programmatic depiction of the changing seasons and their technical innovations. Vivaldi’s best-known work The Four Seasons, a set of four violin concertos composed in 1723, are the world’s most popular and recognized pieces of Baroque music. He introduced a range of new styles and techniques to string playing and consolidated one of its most important genres, the concerto. Prunaru plays a 1694 Stradivarius specially on loan to him.Antonio Vivaldi’s influence on the development of Baroque music was immense. In 2010, he was appointed artistic director of the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland. In addition, he has given recitals throughout the world. Prunaru has since given solo performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. Winning the Juilliard Mendelssohn Competition in 1999 led to his New York solo debut at Lincoln Center with the Juilliard Symphony. In 1993, he won the Prix International Eugène Ysaÿe, the Audience Prize and second prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition. He studied with Alberto Lysy at the Menuhin Music Academy in Gstaad, Switzerland and with Dorothy DeLay in New York. ![]() Liviu Prunaru was appointed principal violinist of the Concertgebouworkest in 2006. Eschkenazy plays a 1738 Guarneri del Gesù specially on loan to him He has also been a member of the Osiris Trio 2005. He served successively as principal violinist with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. Eschkenazy was a prizewinner of the Wieniawski Competition in Poland in 19 and of the Carl Flesch Competition in London. He studied at the Bulgarian State Conservatory and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, where his teachers included Yfrah Neaman. He started playing the violin at the age of five and was appointed principal violinist of the Pioneer Youth Philharmonic Orchestra four years later. Vesko Eschkenazy was appointed principal violinist of the Concertgebouworkest in 2000. ![]()
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