Do The Four Seasons still have anything to tell us? The question is legitimate, given that these four concertos for violin and orchestra have served as elevator music, background music, and telephone answering machines...

But has this use exhausted their flavor? No! Because the visual power of these pages, which tell a story without the aid of the stage or the sung text, is inexhaustible, and the pleasure of their virtuoso flights remains intact, even 300 years after their creation.

These four concertos in three movements, corresponding to the twelve months of the year, inspired Haydn , Tchaikovsky , Piazzolla and Philip Glass . And if they continue to inspire today's musicians and enchant us, it is because Vivaldi knew how to magnify the expressive potential of instrumental music, particularly strings.

Thanks to figuralisms and sound imitation effects, the composer paints veritable frescoes. The orchestra's pizzicatos recall the rain dripping from the leaves after a downpour, the tremolos and rapid tutti scales bring to mind gusts of wind or the rumbling of a storm, while the soloist imitates birdsong... The strings' sonic palette is infinitely rich! And Gabriel Le Magadure 's dialogue with the orchestra is conducive to setting a scene, alternately static and animated, and to making nature and its elements heard in all their states!

To pay homage to Vivaldi, Mathieu Herzog, who returns to the viola chair for the occasion with the Appassionato Orchestra, and the excellent Gabriel Le Magadure, explore this Italian baroque hit with passion and brilliance.