And this seems a bit of a shame, given the treasury of accessible and accomplished 17th-century music that is still largely unknown. But now, recording the golden oldies of the Baroque has faded from fashion. Almost at once a search began for other ``Great Hits of 1700.'' As a result, we now have a long list of recordings of lovely adagios and airs by various Baroque composers. This orchestral version of an organ piece by the little-known 17th-century German composer became a hit. Then, quite suddenly, recording after recording was released of Pachelbel's Canon in D. It’s a score brimming with life and – in a great performance – it can just about make you forget its ubiquity as elevator and telephone hold music.A DECADE ago, audiophiles rarely encountered the music of an obscure Baroque composer by the name of Johann Pachelbel. There’s a reason why this music is so popular and performed by so many violinists: Vivaldi paints his scenes vividly to depict birdsong, thunderstorms, a galloping hunt, slipping on the ice. The violin concertos known as The Four Seasons are part of a collection of 12 works published under the title Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione ( The Contest Between Harmony and Invention). ![]() Throw in some choral works and one discovers a composer of infinite variety far beyond the narrow lens of The Four Seasons – although, almost inevitably, that’s where we begin our Vivaldi journey. Any staged Vivaldi opera is still considered a rarity, but the number of recordings available has grown in the past few decades, opening our ears to some great music. Vivaldi was a prolific opera composer too, writing about twice the number of Handel, yet many are lost or unperformed.
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