Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed (2012) can be understood through Nelson Goodman’s concept of worldmaking and world versions. At the heart of Goodman’s concept of worldmaking is the idea that the world is always mediated and there exists no absolute truth, only different world versions. Goodman outlines five worldmaking processes: composition and decomposition, weighting, ordering, deletion and supplementation, and deformation. Each of these processes can be seen in the ways Richter borrows and reworks Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Some chunks of Vivaldi’s music are left relatively intact while other parts are fragmented and reconstructed into something new. Richter also reconfigures the weighting and order of different elements of Vivaldi’s music, at times creating abrupt “jump-cuts” between different movements. The processes of deletion and supplementation as well as deformation can be seen in the structural level in Richter’s conception of the piece as a paper remix recomposing the music as written. In Vivaldi Recomposed, Richter creates a new world version that coexists with Vivaldi’s world version, allowing audiences to engage with both versions in fruitful ways.

Works: Max Richter: Vivaldi Recomposed (82-87).

Sources: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (82-87).

Index Classifications: 2000s

Contributed by: Matthew Van Vleet