The Four Seasons, times two

VIOLINIST Peter Tanfield will direct the Hobart Chamber Orchestra’s The Four Seasons: Two Ways concert at St David’s Cathedral on Saturday night.

The program will feature both Vivaldi’s and Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla’s versions of The Four Seasons.

Tanfield said Piazzolla included several small quotes from the Vivaldi.

“It’s more with a kind of tongue in cheek humour and not all the quotes are in the same season as the original,” he said. “It is more about pictures of life in Buenos Aires from the tango perspective and there are a couple of extended cadenzas for violin and cello.

“They are fantastic pieces. Very gritty and visceral, but so is the Vivaldi and there are underlying common threads.”

Tanfield has worked with Piazzolla, whom he described as “a very gentle, softly spoken, kindly man who was almost distant”.

“But at the same time he was a hot- blooded musician,” Tanfield said. “On stage he was an absolute animal.”

Tanfield said the Vivaldi was rich pictorially and in characterisation.

“Some voices are lush, rhythmic and filmic and toothily driven, almost like a chainsaw,” he said.

The Four Seasons: Two Ways concert will be held from 7.30pm on Saturday. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 concession and $15 for students, available at the door.