Magnificat
The Virgin's song of joy in the manner of the red-haired priest. Voices and strings in a single arc of praise.
Classical · Italian Baroque · 1678 · 1741
Antonio Vivaldi
The red-haired priest of Venice. Vivaldi was ordained at twenty-five and never said a regular Mass; instead he taught violin and wrote concerti for the orphaned daughters of the Ospedale della Pietà. He composed more than five hundred concerti and forty operas, and died in obscurity in Vienna. The Four Seasons rediscovered him in the twentieth century. From the spring birdsong to the winter hearth, the listener walks one year in the open air.
XV selections · 4h 46m
Individual works
Concerti and sacred music
La Stravaganza
432 Hz
A concerto from his Opus 4 set, "The Extravagance." Restless invention inside the form of the concerto grosso.
La Follia
432 Hz
Twenty variations on the famous Iberian theme. Vivaldi takes the oldest dance in Europe and makes it new.
Summer
from The Four Seasons · 432 Hz
L'estate. The summer storm of the Four Seasons. Heat, oppression, then the thunder.
Spring
from The Four Seasons · 432 Hz
La primavera. The most famous opening in all of Baroque music. Birdsong, brook, and the warm wind of the new year.
Lute Concerto in D Major
432 Hz
A concerto for plucked strings, viola d'amore, and orchestra. Vivaldi opens the smaller chamber lute to full concert scale.
Magnificat
432 Hz
A second reading of the Magnificat, in 432 Hz tuning.
Winter
from The Four Seasons · 432 Hz
L'inverno. Cold, sliding ice, and the warmth of the hearth. Music made of weather.
Autumn
from The Four Seasons · 432 Hz
L'autunno. The harvest dance, the hunt, the wine. The brightest of the four.
Tempesta di Mare
Storm at Sea · 432 Hz
A short concerto on the storm at sea. The orchestra as ocean; rising and falling on a single line.
Spring
Relaxing reading · 432 Hz
A second reading of La primavera, in 432 Hz tuning, slower and more meditative.
Winter
Relaxing reading · 432 Hz
A second reading of L'inverno, in 432 Hz tuning, set for sustained listening.
Extended listening
Complete cycles and compilations
For long sessions of work, study, or contemplation.
The Four Seasons
Complete · Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter
Le quattro stagioni. The complete cycle, end to end. Twelve movements, four sonnets, one year of weather. The most famous concerto set ever written.
Mandolin Concerti
432 Hz
A complete set of concerti for mandolin and orchestra. Plucked-string brilliance carried at full concert scale.
La Serenissima
432 Hz
An hour and a quarter of Vivaldi in the Venetian manner, in 432 Hz tuning. For the longest sessions of work or contemplation.