Max Richter; Vivaldi; Daniel Hope; Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin; André de Ridder - "Vivaldi: The Four Seasons - Recomposed By Max Richter"

Composed in 1723, Antonio Vivaldis Four Seasons is arguably the most familiar piece of classical music in the world, and one of the most recorded pieces of all time. In a bold move characteristic of his boundary-pushing career, Max Richter has brought the quartet of baroque concertos firmly into the 21st century. Famed for his minimalist post-classical approach, incorporating electronica and found sounds, Richter controversially discarded most of Vivaldi's score. Likening his work to that of a sculptor, Richter says he picked his favorite bits of the score and reshaped them into new objects, layering and looping familiar fragments to reinvigorate a work diminished by overuse in elevators, TV ads and as telephone holding music. I only kept about 25 per cent of the notes but there's Vivaldi DNA in all of it, says Max. I kept the gestures and shapes, the textures and dynamics. There are bits of Vivaldi and bits of me daydreaming about the original, thinking aloud about it. First released