The Seasons

Winter Into Spring; George Winston, piano

It’s not just Bach. I really don’t care for the whole Baroque Period. Bach, Handel, Schutz, Albinoni, Telemann, Rameau, Corelli … it’s not that their music isn’t pretty or beautiful. I just find it boring. It all sounds the same to me. I have the same reaction that my sister K. has to acoustic guitar music: after fifteen minutes, we’re done. A little goes a long way.

I will grant some exceptions. Handel’s “Messiah”, J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier and Brandenburg Concertos, Purcell’s “Dido and Aenaes” and Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas for keyboard. Having said all that, however, allow me to say that I really like Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”.

Each season is a three-movement concerto for violin and chamber orchestra. And each concerto has little devices that characterize the season with the concerto. “Winter” has staccato notes in the upper strings to bring to mind stinging sleet and sharp flakes. “Spring” has bird calls. “Summer” has a thunderstorm.

It’s generally accepted that major and minor keys can evoke an emotion. At the basic level, it’s as simple as this: major is happy, minor is sad. If you apply this uncomplicated formula to the key sequence in “The Four Seasons”, you get the following

1. Concerto No. 1 in E Major, “Spring” – happy
2. Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, “Summer” – sad
3. Concerto No. 3 in F Major, “Autumn” – happy
4. Concerto No. 4 in F Minor, “Winter” – sad

With one slight exception, Mr. Vivaldi and I see eye to eye. I am at my most jovial in the spring and in the fall. “Happy” is my default setting during these two seasons. Summer brings profound misery. I can’t take the heat. I prefer the colder temperatures. And that’s where we find a difference of opinion between Mr. Vivaldi and me. Winter brought him anguish. I like winter because it’s not hot in winter.

I enjoy George Winston’s close association with the seasons. His first six albums reflect perhaps a predilection for the outdoors, reflecting in his music some of Mother Earth’s extreme seasonal scenes. In particular, I relish “Winter Into Spring”, released in 1982. The change from a season of frigidness to a period of renewal brings joy and optimism. Happy. Although, the joy and optimism, at least in my mind, are tempered by the inevitable arrival of the overwhelming heat of summer. Sad.

Irving Berlin wrote so many songs for holidays (“White Christmas”, “Easter Parade”, “I’ll Have An Old Fashioned Wedding”, “For Your Country And My Country” and “God Bless America”) that it’s been said … You can’t have a holiday without Irving Berlin’s permission. Well, you can’t have a season without Antonio Vivaldi’s and George Winston’s permission.

Credits: To Winter. I’m sorry to see you go so soon. But I’ll see you around the bend after my birthday. Goodbye, old buddy.