Classical: DXXIV. VIVALDI, Antonio : The Four Seasons / PIAZZOLLA, Astor: Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas

DXXIV. VIVALDI, Antonio (1678-1741) / PIAZZOLLA, Astor (1921-1992)

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (1725)
Piazzolla: Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (1964-70)
Vivaldi: 1. Spring, Op. 8, RV 269:
1. Allegro
2. Largo e pianissimo sempre
3. Allegro pastorale

Piazzolla: 4. Verano Porteño (Summer)

Vivaldi: Summer, Op. 8, RV 315:
5. Allegro non molto
6. Adagio e piano -- Presto e forte
7. Presto

Piazzolla: 8. Otoño Porteño (Autumn)

Vivaldi: Autumn, Op. 8, RV 293:
9. Allegro
10. Adagio molto
11. Allegro

Piazzolla: 12. Invierno Porteño (Winter)

Vivaldi: Winter, Op. 8, RV 297:
13. Allegro non molto
14. Largo
15. Allegro

Piazzolla: 16. Primavera Porteño (Spring)

Concertgebouworkest
Liviu Prunaru, violin, cond.
Vesko Eschkenazy, violin, cond.

Studying with Nadia Boulanger in 1954, she judged the pieces Piazzolla had shown her as being well-constructed but somehow disguising his true spirit. He then played one his original tangos for her, and when he was finished she said, "Astor, this is beautiful. Here is the true Piazzolla -- do not ever leave him!"

Porteño refers to "people of the port/harbor", i.e. the people of Buenos Aires.

Originally four separate pieces, the Estaciones were written for a quintet of violin, piano, electric guitar, double bass and bandoneón -- the instrument that Piazzolla had played since childhood and on which he was a renown virtuoso.

**

Posthumously, Leonid Desyanikov reconfigured the tangos for solo violin and orchestra, adding explicit quotations in Summer and Winter, and playfully alluding to the hemispheric difference, so that the South American Summer corresponds to to Vivaldi's Winter, and vice versa (though they are presented here correspondingly, except for Vivaldi's Spring opening and Piazzolla's version closing ...

Vivaldi: 1. Spring, Op. 8, RV 269:

1. Allegro