Mozart & Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are two names that hardly need an introduction. They stand for Baroque and Classicism, two of the most exciting and prolific periods in the history of music. In Budapest, a very special classical concert honours the two great composers as well as a number of their distinguished peers. The programme includes many famous tunes that best exemplify the 17th and 18th century in musical terms. The Duna String Orchestra with solo violin and soprano expertly navigate the different eras and compositional styles to deliver an impressive and exhilarating musical experience.
The evening begins with the piece that goes back in time the furthers: the famous ‘Canon in D-Major’ by Johann Pachelbel. The instantly recognisable form and the melodies that slowly build up and dance around one another naturally lead into the next number, the festive ‘Gloria’ by Antonio Vivaldi. ‘Adagio’ by Tomaso Albinoni brings the mood slightly down and invites you to take a deeper breath and reflect. Franz Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ sets the scene beautifully for the ‘Church Sonata in D-Major’ and the motet ‘Ave verum corpus’ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, two of the Austrian composer’s celebrated religious works. The flowing cello melody of ‘The Swan’ by Camille Saint-Saëns keeps the mood gracious and composed until Mozart’s ‘Hallelujah’ turns it up again.
The programme ends with a full performance of Vivaldi’s cycle of violin concertos ‘The Four Seasons’, whereby the Duna String Orchestra take the liberty to rearrange the sequence of the movements, presenting ‘Summer’, then ‘Winter’, ‘Spring’, and finally ‘Autumn’. The Italian composer drew the inspiration for the concertos from an extended visit to the countryside. Vivaldi was so impressed with the sounds of nature that he started looking for ways to recreate them using the orchestra. As a result of his seemingly limitless imagination, we can identify murmuring brooks, roaring thunderstorms, booming and crackling fireplaces, and numerous bird species in the magical soundscapes of ‘The Four Seasons’, a perfect closing number for the Mozart & Vivaldi classical concert in Budapest.