Four Seasons

Alena Baeva - violin and direction
Strings of the MDR Symphony Orchestra

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Concerto in A major for violin, strings and basso continuo TWV 51: A4 ("Die Relinge")

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Divertimento in D major KV 136

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons) - Concertos for violin, strings and basso continuo op. 8

When Vivaldi had his Opus 8 printed in Amsterdam in 1725 under the title Le Quattro Stagioni, he gave the collection the subtitle "Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'invenzione" - "The Contest between Harmony and Invention". He was pointing to two qualities no composer can do without: melodic inventiveness and command of compositional technique.

In the "Seasons" concertos, "invenzione" wins hands down: no composer before Vivaldi had captured the characteristic scenes of the four seasons in music with such imagination. That freshness has kept the cycle popular to this day.