Vivaldi to go

An app costing nearly 10 euros ($13.38) ought to be worth the price, I think, as I open the program for on the go that I've just installed. The start page seems to be logically structured, leading the user's glance along three areas: Antonio Vivaldi's Original, Max Richter's Recomposed and The Story.

Curious, I open the "Original" section and marvel at the twitching points in the graphic and the sound of the first movement - Allegro - from "Spring." I'm pleased that Deutsche Grammophon contributed a really excellent recording with Trevor Pinnock and the ensemble he founded, The English Concert, to the app as well as soloist Simon Standage.

The flickering points distract slightly from the lovely sound however. I have to decipher what I'm seeing. Soon, I realize that the points represent the musicians and groups of instruments: first and second violins, viola, basso continuo, harpsichord and solo violin. Hold your finger over a single point and you can almost hear the individual instrument by itself. A nice idea that makes you want to try things out.

Based on the original

Being able to read the score in sync with the music is more than a gimmick. And to understand the music, it's very helpful to use the "sonnet" and "commentary" menus. The sonnets are believed to have been penned by Vivaldi himself. For example, the first movement - Allegro non molto - from "Summer" is accompanied by the line: "Under the merciless summer sun both man and herd languish."

The text is a good description of the music. The commentary to go with it explains: The first ritornello starts with slow, choppily sinking eighth notes, while gentle, almost deathlike sighs rise up. The sonnet describes the story in the music, while the commentary describes Vivaldi's compositional tools.

Richter's universe

Go back to the start screen and into the "Recomposed" section, and the quivering comes back. But to contrast with the "Original," there's a concert video with violinist Daniel Hope, composer Max Richter and the orchestra l'arte del mondo - taken at three different camera angles. Tap the picture of Daniel Hope and you see him play in the main picture.

Do the same thing with a picture of all of the musicians, and you see Max Richter on a moog synthesizer in the middle. It occurs to me that I don't know what I'm hearing, so I open the score. It's the first movement - Allegro non molto - from "Winter," adapted by Max Richter, who offers a highly creative rendition of the work while staying true to Vivaldi's masterpiece. Just where are the differences? It sounds quite a bit like the original.

The background

I head back to the opening screen to tap on "The Story." It begins with an introduction to Vivaldi's original work. I learn, for example, that in Western music history, "The Four Seasons" is the first true example of program music - music used to illustrate a specific sequence of events. At the start of the text, I click a video titled "Enough is enough!" in which British author and broadcast journalist Suzy Klein talks about the original work.

The following chapters also contain much information, both about how "The Four Seasons" was written and about Vivaldi's oeuvre as a whole. All peppered with videos and audio samples - a true and fully mobile web documentary.

Starting to get bogged down in the wealth of information, I'm more interested in comparing Max Richter's work with the original. Finally, I make it to what I'm looking for: a journey through Richter's "Recomposed - Vivaldi's Four Seasons."

Vivaldi expert Suzy Klein, now a familiar face, smiles at me in another video and talks about music and technology. Then Richter appears, raising the question of what Vivaldi might have said about his piece. Since the maestro himself often drew on material from other compositions, he thinks that Vivaldi would have had fun with "Recomposed."

I continue reading and looking forward to a promised comparison of the two - for which, by now, I feel quite well prepared.

The juxtaposition

Finally, the goal. The next chapter, "Spring," offers a chance to compare the original with the recomposed version, measure by measure. Before starting it, I watch a video featuring Max Richter. He explains how he reworked the overture to "Spring." The biggest challenge, he says, was creating a powerful new version that was consistent with the original. Of course, he adds, he wanted to preserve the spirit of the world-famous masterpiece.

Now I'm ready for the comparison. I launch an audio sample that includes the first seven measures - clearly the original with the overture's famous ritornello. In the video, Richter says that he wanted to cite this famous riff just once and embed it in a cloud of electronic sound. He compares it to "martinis before dinner."

Then I open the brief excerpt from Richter's overture and immediately recognize the non-orchestral "cloud of sound" drifting by. But I can only guess at the small snippet from the original. Suddenly, it's clear to me that Max Richter did not simply "remix" or rearrange Vivaldi. He has, in fact, created a new composition.

Bull's eye. Now I'm looking forward to the other side-by-side comparisons. After all, we still have three seasons to go. If the additional audio samples and commentaries are just as easy and interesting to follow, then the 9.99 euros for the "Recomposed - Vivaldi's Four Seasons" app were definitely worth it.