Four Seasons, The Educational Edition (Amera Chicago), The

Narrator Steve Robinson provides the literary-historical context for Antonio Vivaldi’s 1720 “program” set of concertos, Op. 8. Vivaldi wrote poems to be read before each movement of the four concertos, which tell a story of the seasons’ passing. The music becomes quite graphic, illustrating bird calls, hunting horns, barking dogs, murmuring streams, sleet, thunder, etc. Vivaldi wrote the set while Master of the Violin at Venetian orphanage, the Devout Hospital of Mercy for abandoned girls. Disc 1 combines the poetic narrative before each musical number, performed by Amelia Piscatelli, violin, and Camerata Chicago, led by Drostan Hall. Disc 2 is 4 concertos, without narration.