Watch: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, but played tango-style on a concertina

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

The final coda to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons sounds especially thrilling in this new tango arrangement for string ensemble and bandoneon.

The piece is called ‘Tango Seasons: Seasons Recomposed III’, a mash-up of Vivaldi’s original Quattro stagioni with Astor Piazzolla’s Seasons.

The piece, arranged by Roberto Molinelli and performed by bandoneon player Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi, aims to capture the atmosphere and climate of Buenos Aires.

A bandoneon is a type of concertina, traditional of Argentinian tango music – and the way Pietrodarchi plays it is pretty jaw-dropping.

The performance was by the Cappella Gabetta ensemble, led by Andrés Gabetta, and was filmed at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, which runs from 13 July to 1 September 2018.

Watch the whole concert here.