SPRINGTIME!

SPRINGTIME!

Concerto Copenhagen welcomes the spring with music inspired by the sounds of the season.

The seasons have always been a great inspiration for composers, especially spring, when nature comes alive from its winter hibernation. Even in the Baroque period, music can be found that often tried to imitate the sounds and moods of spring, from birdsong to the tinkling of a brook.

Particularly well-known is The Four Seasons by Vivaldi where the music tries to recreate the sound of spring, when the nature is awakening from the winter’s slumber. The songs of birds are repeatedly imitated, as in Vivaldi’s two concertos for violin and flute, where you can hear the cuckoo (il Cucu) and the bird “Il gardinello,” which is also known as the songbird the goldfinch.

In 1927, Italian composer Otto Respighi composed a suite for orchestra based on Baroque music. The suite, titled "Gli Ucelli" (The Birds), not only attempts to evoke the songs of the birds but also their character. In 2015, Danish composer Karl Aage Rasmussen created a version of Otto Respighi's "Gli Uccelli" for Concerto Copenhagen.

The question is, can you hear the spring, and can you recognize the birds? when Concerto Copenhagen finishes the Springtime concert with ‘the Birds’ by Respighi/Rasmussen.