Vivaldi: Quatre saisons - L'hiver - Single

Chattering teeth, involuntarily set in motion by a bone-aching wind, compete for attention with the sound of stamping feet in the opening movement of “Winter” from The Four Seasons, Vivaldi’s evocation of the turning year’s harshest time. The Venetian composer’s famously tricky concerto surges to life in the hands of Julien Chauvin and Le Concert de la Loge, launched by spooky chords and an initial solo entry that launches straight out of the starting blocks.

They’re no less committed (or theatrical) when the scene cuts to a warming fireside in the central “Largo,” or takes to the ice for a finale filled with incomparable snowy joys. Despite using just one period instrument per part, the Paris-based band conjures up a dazzling display of string sounds. Above all, their “Winter” counters monochrome meteorological realities with vivid colors, high-wire virtuosity, and daring musical gestures.

The interpretation, Chauvin tells Apple Music Classical, evolved naturally over the course of many performances. “Because The Four Seasons has been recorded hundreds of times before, everyone wants to make it faster, or slower, or more extreme, or more violent, or more singing than the rest,” he notes. “We didn’t want to do that—we didn’t want to draw attention to something ‘special’ just for the sake of it. But at some point, we’d played it so many times that we thought, ‘Yes, I think we play it quite OK. We have good ideas. So let’s record it.’ And we did it with all our heart and with every musician playing their full part in the interpretation.

“I hope the first movement of ‘Winter,’ which is always an impressive piece, gives an idea of what we were about with this recording.”