Venice in the early 1720s was a city of colour and carnival, but Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons brought its own brand of spectacle—through sound.
These four concertos shattered the barriers between music and the natural world, turning the solo violin into a full-throated narrator of spring’s blossoming joy, summer’s sweltering fury, autumn’s harvest revelry, and winter’s icy stillness. Vivaldi didn’t stop at notes: he penned sonnets to accompany each movement, ensuring listeners would imagine birdcalls, thunderstorms, festive dances, and chattering teeth.
At a time when the concerto form was still finding its voice, Vivaldi propelled it to new heights. The virtuosic demands on the soloist were daring; the orchestral responses, vivid. No composer before had so literally painted soundscapes that mirror the earth’s cycles so precisely. From the opening trill of Spring to the haunting arpeggios of Winter, these concertos feel as fresh today as they did for the first audiences at Mantua’s courts.
The Four Seasons’ enduring appeal lies not just in its technical brilliance, but in its visceral storytelling. Each movement is a snapshot of a season’s character, captured in musical motion. Whether you’re a seasoned violinist or a casual listener, Vivaldi’s masterpiece invites you to hear—and feel—the changing year in all its radiant drama.
Here are five great recordings of this perennially fresh work - and three from out of leftfield. Enjoy!
Vivaldi Four Seasons: best recordings
1. Iona Brown
Academy of St Martin in the Fields/Neville Marriner Philips 9500 7 17 (1979)
Iona Brown joined the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in 1964. Over the next decade, she would work her way to the top of the orchestra, reaching principal soloist and director by 1974. Though she left the orchestra in 1980, just a year after this recording was released, she continued collaborating with them. Her Four Seasons is arguably her finest achievement on disc.
Often thought of as the first definitive recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Iona Brown and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields display an exceptional lightness of touch throughout that makes the performance compelling yet easy to listen to. This is not to say that it lacks drama – far from it, in fact, as Brown and Neville Marriner expertly capture the dynamic highs and lows of each season.
2. Nigel Kennedy
English Chamber Orchestra Warner Classics 5562532 (1989)
It should come as no surprise that Nigel Kennedy’s record-breaking disc makes this list. Released in 1989, Kennedy’s recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons spent nearly two years at the top of the UK classical album chart and sold over 2 million copies, making it the best-selling classical recording at the time.
- We named Nigel Kennedy one of classical music's greatest rule-breakers
Essential listening for all Vivaldi enthusiasts, few recordings display the same level of vivacity as this collaboration between Kennedy and the English Chamber Orchestra – the matchless energy of their full-throttle performance doesn’t mean lack of precision, however. Kennedy has since released The New Four Seasons (2015), a modern interpretation of the concertos, infused with jazz as well as the violinist’s love for Jimi Hendrix.
3. Janine Jansen
Julian Rachlin (viola) et al
Decca 475 6188 (2004)
Dutch violinist Janine Jansen offers an intimate Four Seasons performance, reducing a traditional orchestra accompaniment down to single instruments. This chamber-sized ensemble, including Jansen’s brother and father on cello and harpsichord respectively, is expressive and soloistic in its own right while still allowing Jansen to shine as the work’s star.
‘Jansen possesses the ideal combination of intonational purity and tonal allure,’ wrote our review, ‘and is beguilingly responsive to the music’s shifting moods, creating the uncanny impression of a series of vividly drawn characters passing before our eyes as we listen.’
4. Adrian Chandler
La Serenissima Avie Records AV 2344 (2015)
Standing out from the ocean of Vivaldi Four Seasons recordings is a challenge, but Adrian Chandler brings originality to the table by creating his own new edition of the concertos from Vivaldi’s rare surviving source material. Performing with period instrument ensemble, La Serenissima, Chandler milks his authority as soloist and director with delightful, dramatic rubato and with precision second only to Nigel Kennedy.
‘The resulting freshness incinerates the cobwebs of familiarity in the heat of La Serenissima’s proselytising zeal,’ wrote Paul Riley. ‘This fresh approach grows out of the work itself, and as a period instrument ensemble La Serenissima fully understands what an imaginative continuo section can bring to the table.’
5. Rachel Podger
Brecon Baroque Channel Classics CCS SA 40318 (2018)
Like Jansen, Rachel Podger’s Four Seasons recording is an intimate experience, with single string accompaniment from Brecon Baroque. Despite its size, the chamber ensemble achieves a rich, weighty sound that converses beautifully with Podger’s light, airy solo lines. This recording is evocative and colourful, embodying Vivaldi’s music on its own terms.
‘Part of the freshness stems from the interaction between Podger and her one-to-a-part ensemble. Indeed, whether in Spring’s multi-beaked violin twitterings or the viola barking of the slow movement’s dog, it’s striking just how many soloistic opportunities Vivaldi offers the ensemble,’ says Paul Riley's review.
And... three leftfield recordings of the Vivaldi Four Seasons
1. Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi The Four Seasons
Daniel Hope (violin), Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin/André de Ridder DG 4792777 (2014)
Despite discarding ‘three quarters’ of the music, this recomposed Four Seasons by leading ambient and post-classical composer Max Richter retains the shape, texture and dynamics of Vivaldi, looping the concertos’ most famous moments to meet Richter’s minimalist composition style. The result is fresh and exciting but crucially still recognisable as Vivaldi’s work.
2. A Violin for All Seasons
Tasmin Little (violin) et al, BBC Symphony Orchestra Chandos CHSA5175 (2016)
Violinist Tasmin Little’s vibrant recording of the Vivaldi Four Seasons is accompanied on disc by British composer Roxanna Panufnik’s Four World Seasons, a piece written specially for her. Panufnik transports listeners through space as well as time in a work that is divided into four movements: ‘Autumn in Albania’, ‘Tibetan Winter’, ‘Spring in Japan’ and ‘Indian Summer’, and includes the use of a Tibetan singing bowl.
3. Vanessa-Mae: Storm
For her 1997 album Storm, British violinist Vanessa-Mae delivered us a techno-fuelled interpretation on the Presto movement from The Four Seasons's 'Summer'. Distorted guitars and driving beats - this was Vivaldi in a whole different soundworld, and (spoiler alert) won't be to everyone's taste. Enough people did like it, though, as Storm spent five weeks in the UK album charts, an impressive feat for a classical music album.
Pics: Getty Images