August COMPOSER: antonio vivaldi
mandolin concerto in C, 1725
The mandolin is not an instrument I previously associated with classical music. That’s one of the main reasons I chose this Mandolin Concerto, the other is that it’s a striking, snappy and emotive piece of music. Vivaldi only wrote 2 works that included a mandolin; this is the only one where it features solo. It was written in a period of great productivity for the composer, the period when he also produced the Four Seasons. It’s one of the most famous mandolin works and its not hard to see why.