Antonio Vivaldi stands, with Händel and J.S. Bach, as one of the titanic figures of late Baroque composition. Not only was he lauded as a composer of vocal and instrumental works both sacred and secular, he was the most prolific composer of his age - in addition to hundreds of vocal works (including forty-nine operas), he composed five hundred concerti. The Four Seasons are by far the best known, with the second movement, ?Largo,? portraying time spent by a roaring fire listening to the rain pounding against the window. This new arrangement for concert band retains all the warmth of the original. |
