 On a list of the most well-known classical works, even beyond circles devoted to classical music, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons undoubtedly ranks near the top, alongside Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Yet, this cycle of four three-movement violin concertos enjoys not only enduring popular¬ity among audiences but also serves as a seemingly inexhaustible source of inspiration for composers and musicians alike. Admittedly, even before Vivaldi’s violin concertos were first published in Amsterdam in 1725, composers had already engaged with the themes of seasons and nature: the English composer Christo¬pher Simpson wrote the gamba fantasies The Four Seasons, and as early as the Renaissance, Clément Janequin drew inspiration from birdsong in Le Chant des Oiseaux. Yet it was Vivaldi’s Seasons that swiftly became the lodestar of this early program music. As early as the 18th century, numerous composers adapted the work or parts of it. Michel Corrette, for instance, transformed Spring into a sacred piece, while Nicolas Chédeville arranged it for musette and hurdy-gurdy. To this day, it has been arranged for countless ensembles and instruments, reinterpreted in jazz, film scores, and folk music, and quoted or reimagined in contemporary works. British composer Max Richter even recomposed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons entirely – his Winter now pulses in an irregular, stomping 7/8 rhythm. Swiss composer Fabian Müller takes a less radical approach. In 2016, on a commission from the Murten Classics Festival, he composed a Prelude and three Intermezzi for violinist Kamilla Schatz, each designed to precede Vivaldi’s violin concertos. Unlike Richter, Müller leaves the original intact, preparing the four concertos with evocative mood-pictures, “rolling out a red carpet for them”, as he puts it. Violinist Silvan Dezini, in this recording, strives to create a pure, unadorned version of The Four Seasons, aiming to render the sonic imagery of both Vivaldi’s and Müller’s compositions as faithfully to nature as possible. To this end, Dezini collaborated closely with Müller: “This helped me understand what Fabian was trying to express with his pieces, and I was able to discover new connections between Vivaldi and Müller.” [..]
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