Vivaldi, les Quatre Saisons, Stabat Mater, Concerto pour Viole d'Amour

Presented by L'Orchestre Paul Kuentz Vivaldi seems to tell us that music can transcend everything, including nature — and perhaps especially nature.

Presented by L'Orchestre Paul Kuentz

Vivaldi seems to tell us that music can transcend everything, including nature — and perhaps especially nature. From this living nature, precisely evoked in the four sonnets that accompany The Four Seasons, he offers us a true musical sublimation. Whether he composed these poems himself or borrowed them, Vivaldi goes far beyond their simple illustration. In his music, words become birdsong, murmuring streams, rumbling storms, rustling wind, or winter shivers. Music then seems to surpass speech: it no longer just describes nature, it makes us experience it — and speech fades away. It is this singular power of music, capable of seizing reality and speech to carry them beyond themselves, that we hear tonight in The Four Seasons, magnified by the exceptional interpretation of Éléonore Darmon, accompanied by the Paul Kuentz orchestra and under his direction. "The Four Seasons" will be followed by two emblematic works by Venice's brilliant red priest, his "Stabat Mater", performed by Stéphanie Doré, and his concerto for viola d'amore, with Jean-Christophe Raffy.