Antonio Vivaldi, musical avant-gardist, extravagant violin virtuoso and ingenious composer, was in great demand all over Europe. He travelled to cities including Rome, Prague, Vienna and Amsterdam - but the "red-haired priest" never saw Dresden. Despite this, his music was very much present at the Dresden court: the Saxon royal seat was considered the centre of the German cultivation of Vivaldi. Heinrich E. Grimm has transcribed Vivaldi's most famous programmatic cycle, The Four Seasons, for the organ completely in the spirit of Bach. When recorded on an original instrument, the result is a refreshingly rustic-baroque sound.
