Performers

Keziah Thomas, solo harp

Programme

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678- 1741)

Concerto No.1 in E major, RV 269, La Primavera – Spring 

i.Allegro, ii: Largo e pianissimo sempre, iii: Allegro

Concerto No.2 in G minor, RV 315, L’Estate – Summer

i: Allegro non molto, ii: Adagio, iii: Presto

Concerto No. 3 in F major, RV 293, L’Autunno - Autumn 

i: Allegro, ii: Adagio molto, iii: Allegro

Concerto No.4 in F minor, RV 297, L’Inverno - Winter 

i: Allegro non molto, ii: Largo, iii: Allegro

Programme Notes

As a child of the 80s, my first encounter with The Four Seasons came from my favourite cassette in my grandfather’s meticulously indexed drawer of classical music albums, ‘Hooked on Classics’. Vivaldi’s music already sparkles with energy but with the addition of Louis Clark’s disco beats, I was (as K-tel intended) indeed hooked!  Fast forward 25 years and I am sat behind my harp during a recording session of Max Richter’s ‘Recomposed: Vivaldi The Four Seasons’. Struck by how well the looped material from Richter’s harp part fits under the harpist’s fingers and how satisfying it feels to be a part of such an iconic piece of music, I started itching to play some of the solo lines alongside the harmony.

Through my experience of coming to The Four Seasons via arrangements and reworkings, it felt entirely natural to pick up the score and explore the music using my own voice: the harp. 

I spent a year with the music, arranging each concerto during the relevant season immersed in Vivaldi’s music and his (presumably self-penned) sonnets alongside my own relationship with the cycle of the seasons.

By taking inspiration from the composer’s imagery, I explored contemporary techniques to showcase the breadth of the harps’ colour palette, using trills to represent birdsong, bisbigliandi to convey the stamping of the feet in Winter and harmonics to represent blissful sleep after a big Harvest party!