Autumn

As the new season of Autumn settles in, we've put together our Autumn Early Music Shop playlist.  

No Autumn playlist based around Early Music (well, mainly) could go without Vivaldi's Autumn from The Four Seasons. We've included three recordings, each offering a different view on the famous work: a more traditional recording from Il Giardino Armonico, alongside Red Priest's theatrical arrangement and to end, Max Richter's mesmerising re-composition. 

Many composers have been inspired by the seasons, with the theme offering an obvious set. Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach composed four lieds based on each of the seasons in his Geistliche Lieder. Henry Purcell includes four arias in The Fairy Queen based on the seasons in Act IV. Markus Zahnhausen composed four pieces for his Signs of the Seasons. Although these are not Early Music, these contemporary compositions have become popular pieces for recorder players. 

Keeping with the theme of Autumn and the time of year, we've included some sacred vocal music based on harvest: Greene's Thou Visitest the Earth and J.S. Bach's Cantata Es wartet alles auf dich, BWV187. Maurice Greene is a lesser known English Baroque composer, however during his life he was organist at St. Paul's Cathedral and the Chapel Royal, Professor of Music at Cambridge University and Master of the King's Musick. J.S. Bach needs less introduction!