Spring from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, arranged for 6 Recorders (SAATBCb). The Four Seasons is very well known, but less well known is that Vivaldi used four sonnets (allegedly written by himself) as a descriptive basis for each concerto. Each movement follows the narrative of the sonnet, and in this arrangement I focused particularly on the way Vivaldi tells the story of the sonnet through the music. I have spent a long time carefully adapting this violin concerto for a recorder ensemble, and have provided ossias to cater for the less experienced player. This should be accessible to any amateur recorder ensemble who is looking for a challenge.

In the 3rd movement, the soprano player will need a sopranino and the alto 1 player will need a soprano. The contrabass part can be played on a bass recorder if you don't have access to a contrabass.

The MP3 I have attached includes a continuo section (cello and harpsichord), but the recorder parts you hear are the same as in the PDF. Throughout the concerto I liberally decorated each movement with ornamentation: this is not reflected in the score but can be used for inspiration when deciding on your own ornaments. I hope you will have fun rehearsing and performing this - it is very rewarding! If you have any questions about this arrangement, I would be happy to help. Email me at thomas0pickering@gmail.com

If you are interested in watching a performance of this, I recorded and performed it as a bit of a project last July. Here is this link! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs4aD4koczw