Seasons - Kerenza Peacock/Trafalgar Sinfonia

Classic FM Album of the Week, starting Monday 12 October 2015 after 10am

Earlier this year on Classic FM, our Drive Featured Album was Flight by Oliver Davis, featuring the violinist Kerenza Peacock with the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Paul Bateman. 

Now following hot on its heels is Seasons, which pairs Vivaldi's evergreen concerto cycle The Four Seasons with a new complementary composition by Davis. 

Inspired by the same set of poems upon which Vivaldi based his masterpiece, which some believe to be by the composer himself, Davis's new work, titled Anno, is set for orchestra and solo soprano, performed here by Grace Davidson.

The two works sit comfortably alongside each other; Davis's music has a pulsating rhythmic energy not a million miles away from Vivaldi's nor Michael Nyman's minimalist Baroque scores for such Peter Greenaway films as The Draughtsman's Contract. The Trafalgar Sinfonia, conducted by Ivor Setterfield, perform it all with verve and considerable discipline. 

To complete the disc Davis has provided an additional short piece, Anno Epilogue, lovingly played by Peacock with Emma Heathcote and Susie Winkworth.