Winter bows to Spring

The sheer number of recordings and monographs about Franz Schubert's song cycle ‘Winterreise’ alone testifies to its magnificence. Even so, specialists are still undecided whether this work truly constitutes a song cycle. Its 24 songs, settings of texts by the poet Wilhelm Müller, were published on two separate occasions: one in February 1827, and one in October 1827. However, the narrative of Müller's poems appears straightforward: a young man is rejected, and wanders off on an aimless journey in the midst of winter. The music's atmosphere is gloomy and downcast. In this performance, baritone Thomas Quasthoff performs Schubert’s song cycle accompanied by Daniel Barenboim on piano. This performance was recorded at the Philharmonie in Berlin, Germany.

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas) is a set of four stand-alone tango compositions written by Argentine composer Ástor Piazzolla between 1965 and 1970. The pieces were originally scored for violin, piano, electric guitar, double bass, and bandoneon, the instrument that the composer himself was a master of. The compositions, especially "Invierno Porteño”, reflect the spirit and atmosphere of Buenos Aires itself. In the late 1990s, Ukrainian-born composer Leonid Desyatnikov arranged Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires for solo violin and orchestra, incorporating quotations from Antonio Vivaldi’s famous The Four Seasons (1723). This convergence between Argentina and Italy is reflected by this particular performance, in which Italian violinist Domenico Nordio and the Brazilian Orquestra Johann Sebastian Rio play Invierno Porteño (Buenos Aires Winter).

As part of the Europakonzert 1999, recorded at St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków, Poland, maestro Bernard Haitink leads the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance of Robert Schumann's ‘Spring’ Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38. Written in 1841, the composer was inspired, at least in part, by a poem of Adolf Böttger (1815-1870), especially by the lines “O wende, wende deinen lauf – Im Thale blüht der Frühling auf!” (“O, turn, O turn and change your course – In the valley, spring blooms forth!”). Initially, Schumann gave titles to the movements of this optimistic symphony, such as ‘Spring’s Awakening’ and ‘Evening’, which were withdrawn later.

Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan and the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris recorded all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies in 2014-2015. In this program, Jordan conducts Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the Pastoral Symphony. Beethoven wrote the work upon completion of his Symphony No. 5. Both symphonies premiered at the same legendary, all-Beethoven concert on December 22, 1808. Symphony No. 6 consists of five movements, of which the last three are played without a break. Each movement carries a title that suggests a scene from life in the countryside. The joyful atmosphere of the first three movements is interrupted by the violent fourth movement ‘Thunder, Storm’, as expressed by the piccolos, brass, and timpani. As the storm recedes at the end of the movement, the tranquility returns in the final movement. This performance was recorded at Opéra Bastille in Paris, France, in 2015.

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas) is a set of four stand-alone tango compositions written by Argentine composer Ástor Piazzolla between 1965 and 1970. The pieces were originally scored for violin, piano, electric guitar, double bass, and bandoneon, the instrument that the composer himself was a master of. The compositions reflect the spirit and atmosphere of Buenos Aires itself. In the late 1990s, Ukrainian-born composer Leonid Desyatnikov arranged Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires for solo violin and orchestra, incorporating quotations from Antonio Vivaldi’s famous The Four Seasons (1723). This convergence between Argentina and Italy is reflected by this particular performance, in which Italian violinist Domenico Nordio and the Brazilian Orquestra Johann Sebastian Rio play Primavera Porteña (Buenos Aires Spring).