Vivaldi 4 Stagioni

'La Caccia', the hunting finale of Autumn — galloping string figures and horn-call imitations in the ensemble with an urgent solo violin as the quarry. Energetic and purposeful across just under four minutes, ending on a clean cadence.

Winter's opening movement: shivering repeated string chords building from near-nothing into biting solo violin outbursts in F minor. Cold, austere and increasingly severe, with a decisive full-ensemble finish.

The famous Largo from Winter — plucked strings ticking like falling rain beneath a long, warm solo violin melody in the major. Two minutes of intimate, unhurried beauty that ends gently.

The Autumn opening movement in F major, a five-minute peasant dance and song with a stamping tutti ritornello and tipsy solo violin episodes. Broadly cheerful and celebratory, with enough length to carry a full sequence.

Autumn's slow movement, the stillest thing on the record: sustained, softly pulsing strings with almost no melodic foreground, evoking sleep after the harvest feast. Three and a half minutes of near-static calm, ideal under narration.

The finale of Winter for solo violin and strings, moving from icy figuration into a broad, singing close — the point in the cycle where cold gives way to warmth. Its arc from sparse to full-bodied makes it a natural resolution cue.

The expansive opening movement of Summer, and the longest track on the album at over five and a half minutes: heavy, heat-struck string writing in G minor that alternates listless ritornellos with increasingly wild solo violin episodes. It builds gradually from languor toward the first rumbles of storm.

Summer's short slow movement, alternating a languid solo violin adagio with abrupt tutti interruptions from the strings. At two minutes it is the briefest cue here and its stop-start character suits footage where calm is repeatedly broken.

The storm finale of Summer — driving G minor scale runs in the strings under a virtuoso solo violin, relentless from the first bar. The most aggressive cue on the set, three minutes of unbroken agitation ending in a hard cadence.

The slow middle movement of Spring: muted upper strings over a gently repeating bass with the solo violin singing a long, unhurried line. Tender and pastoral, it stays quiet for its full two and a half minutes and settles softly at the end.

A longer reading of the Spring first movement carrying a dance subtitle, the same E major solo violin and string ensemble writing given a lighter, more rustic lilt. Cheerful and forward-moving throughout, its extra length makes it useful where a full recognisable statement is needed rather than a short quote.

The opening Allegro of Spring for string orchestra and solo violin — bright E major ritornello with birdsong-style violin figures answered by the tutti strings and continuo. Sunny, courtly and instantly recognisable, it rises and falls in short episodes and closes with a firm cadence.