Weekend Concert 34: The Weighable Life of Four Seasons
2007/4/15 11:38:14
Life cycles, seasons turn -- East or West, it's all the same. When such feelings are stirred and entrusted to musical notes, there comes music about the four seasons. Of course, not all music about the four seasons is heavy. Life doesn't bear weight because of its essence -- essence is illusory, essence has no weight. What has weight is life itself.
Among music about the four seasons of life, the two most popular are none other than Vivaldi's and Tchaikovsky's. The former is actually a set of four violin concertos; the latter is a piano suite -- more accurately translated as memories of the months. The former brims with Mediterranean sunshine; the latter, even in its sunniest passages, reflects the ice and snow of Russia. The feeling of life is often very geographical.
Probably few people put these two works together -- after all, the eras and styles are drastically different. But here, you can fully experience the different geographical forms of life's four seasons. Putting this concert together was a bit of a hassle. This ID found the Vivaldi right away, but since this ID isn't particularly fond of Tchaikovsky's music and doesn't have his complete works, I didn't know where to look at first. Then I remembered I have a "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" series, collecting 100 pianists with 2 CDs each. I went searching through there, and fortunately, found it right away -- that's how this concert came together. Sometimes having too much material is its own headache; searching through it all takes time.
Enough chitchat -- let's listen to music.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán 2007/4/15 11:40:30
Good afternoon everyone -- friends are coming from out of town today and I have some social engagements, so I have to head off now.
Goodbye.