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Copyright: we retain the copy right on our arrangements for public performance or any other commercial application but grant you the right to download it free of charge for your own personal use.  Donation: If you enjoy the music I would be grateful if you would make a donation to the charitable Trust Fund run by Croydon Whitgift Rotary Club.

Antonio Vivaldi

Red Priest of Venice

Vivaldi was known as the red priest in Venice where he was employed as the chaplin of a convent which had a number of talented musicians for whom he composed a variety of sacred and secular musical pieces. In this selection we have concentrated on the secular which were largely instrumental and where the clean, vigorous style lends it self to a percussive treatment.

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In pride of place is the Four Seasons which contains many of the elements of a symphony before that form had been fully developed. Here is it rendered on our established combination of steel drums and marimba for the strings with Ocarina and Pan Flute in the wood wind section and Harps in place of the harpsichord: Winter Spring Summer Autumn The balance of the selection is made up of Concertos which was a form which had been developing in Italy and which Vivaldi took to new hights with barely restrained emotion showing through the elegant structure. Violin Concerto in A minor (Allegretto movement)  transcribed on to a marimba for the violin solo and a steel drum ensemble for the orchestra. Double Trumpet Concerto  Here the Vibraphone stands in for the trumpets while steel drums, ocarina and marimba carry the rest of the orchestra. Mandolin Concerto in C Major (First movement - Allegro Moderato) where the Mandolin part is taken by the Harps and stands out against the Steel Drum and Marimba orchestra. Piccolo Concerto All three movements where the Piccolo part is taken by the Pan Flute accompanied by Harps in place of a Harpsichord with Steel Drums and Marimba taking the other stringed instrument parts. Recorder Concerto No 4 In A Minor  All three movements where the recorder is replaced by the Ocarina while the Steel Drums take on the Harpsichord part the the rest of the orchestra is made up of Harp, Bass Ocarina and Marimba. Violin Concerto No 6 in A minor All three movements where this time the violin part is taken by the Steel Drums and the accompaniment is provided by a blend of Harps, Gamelan and Marimba. Sustained notes are supported by a cool synthesiser which is most obvious in the second (slow) movement.