Astor Piazzolla, born in Mar del Plata and raised in New York, was a self-taught bandoneon player who studied composition with Alberto Ginastera and Nadia Boulanger.
Instruments
Lina Tur Bonet, the violinist on this album, plays a Dom Nicolo Amati violin from Bologna (ca. 1740) for Vivaldi's works and a Carlo Tononi violin from Venezia (1724) with steel strings for Piazzolla's pieces.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Vivaldi added descriptive poems to the 1725 edition of The Four Seasons to encourage violinists across Europe to interpret the music with vivid imagery, such as barking dogs or buzzing gnats.
Compositional Technique
Vivaldi's Four Seasons are unified by themes and motifs, but Winter is set apart by its lack of repose and a unique key relationship where each season's third slips a semitone from Spring to Winter.
Composition History
Count Wenzel von Morzin, a Prague-based nobleman, likely commissioned Vivaldi's Four Seasons, as his palace featured four statues representing the seasons.
Cultural Impact
Piazzolla's 'Nuevo Tango' sparked a revolution in 1955, challenging traditional tango and becoming a tremendously expressive music that incorporated classical elements.
Composition History
Vivaldi's Four Seasons were composed in Mantua, away from Venice and the Ospedale della Pietà orchestra with which he typically worked.
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