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1
Lully : Isis : Prelude "L'hiver qui nous tourmente" [Chorus] "Laizzez-moi, cruelle Furie!" [Io, La Furie] "Ah! quelle peine de trembler" [Chorus]
Jean-Baptiste Lully, William Christie, Les Arts Florissants
04:07
2
King Arthur, Z. 628: King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: "See We Assemble Thy Tevels to Hold"
Henry Purcell, Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier
01:48
3
Le Quattro Stagioni - Concerto No. 4, Op. 8 RV 297: L'Inverno (Winter) I. Allegro non molto
Antonio Vivaldi, Rachel Podger
03:18
4
Le Quattro Stagioni - Concerto No. 4, Op. 8 RV 297: L'Inverno (Winter) II. Largo
Antonio Vivaldi, Rachel Podger
02:15
5
Le Quattro Stagioni - Concerto No. 4, Op. 8 RV 297: L'Inverno (Winter) III. Allegro
Antonio Vivaldi, Rachel Podger
03:39
6
3 German Dances, K. 605: No. 3 in C Major, Trio "Die Schlittenfahrt"
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
02:28
7
Der Winter: Einleitung
Franz Joseph Haydn, René Jacobs, Freiburger Barockorchester
03:38
8
Winterreise, D911: Gute Nacht
Franz Schubert, Jonas Kaufmann
05:34
9
12 Etudes d'exécution transcendante, S.139: No.12 Chasse neige (Andante con moto)
Franz Liszt, Daniil Trifonov
05:52
10
Der Winterabend, D 938
Franz Schubert, Christian Gerhaher
07:30
11
Winterlust, Polka schnell, Op. 121
Josef Strauss, Gustavo Dudamel, Wiener Philharmoniker
02:48
12
Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 13, "Winter Daydreams": I. Allegro tranquillo (Dreams of a Winter Journey)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski
11:18
13
Le voyage dans la lune / Ballet des Flocons de neige: Polka
Jacques Offenbach, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski
02:14
14
The Snow Maiden: Snow Maiden's Aria, "S podruzhkami po yagodu khodit"
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Olga Peretyatko, Dimitry Liss
03:43
15
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Op. 71, Act I, Scene 2: No. 9, Waltz of the Snowflakes
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle, Libera
06:40
16
La Bohème / Act 3: "Dunque: è proprio finita!...Addio, dolce svegliare"
Giacomo Puccini, Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Tebaldi, Ettore Bastianini, Gianna D'Angelo, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Tullio Serafin
06:25
17
Des pas sur la neige
Claude Debussy, Quatuor Debussy
03:56
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Children's Corner: Children's Corner: IV. The Snow is Dancing. Modérément animé
Claude Debussy, Alain Planès
02:44
19
The Seasons, Op.67: 1. Winter
Alexander Glazunov, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
09:45

Winter Dream

Seasons, and winter in particular, have always inspired classical music composers.

Everyone knows the seminal Four Seasons, in which Vivaldi, thanks to the brilliance of the solo violin, narrated with a unique genius the winter season, its rigor and its harshness. In his oratorio The Seasons, Joseph Haydn also went very far into the meticulous description of winter, yet with a very different instrumental ensemble (soloists, choir, symphony orchestra).

For most composers, winter symbolizes melancholy: it is the season when everything stops and sadness can break out at any moment. Schubert has regularly evoked this season in Lieder, and even devoted a complete cycle to it – Winterreise. In this deeply moving masterpiece, Schubert is at the dawn of his death, and reveals his own anguish and despair.

But composers have not always linked winter to sadness. They wrote humorous choruses from as early as the Baroque period, like Lully's Isis or Purcell's King Arthur, in which the singers imitate the chattering of teeth in cold weather. Similarly, in his German dance K.605, Mozart evokes a sleigh ride in a rather joyful way, with the help of an instrument unusual at least in his work: bells. Finally, for Johann Strauss in Polka Winterlust and Offenbach in the Trip to the Moon's “Grand Ballet of the Snowflakes”, winter is more synonymous with joy and gaiety.

With the romantic and then modern period, composers continued to praise this very special season. Debussy evokes winter in several pieces for piano, and Tchaikovsky devoted an entire symphony, his very first, entitled Winter Dreams.

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