This is a recording of the evergreen Four Seasons to remember and return to. The playing is sublime. Kati Debretzeni is a breath of fresh air at any time of the year. The chamber ensemble from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, led here by Alison Bury, includes a core of players that has been there from its formation, who continue to play with the same joyful camaraderie and artistic precision. The novelty of this recording is the inclusion of timings in the CD booklet that link the poetry that inspired Vivaldi to his music.

Lying behind this ‘Guided tour of the Four Seasons’ is Debretzeni’s genuine desire to educate as well as delight her listeners. In Spring she is playful and appealing in her solos, seemingly spontaneous in her ornamentation, and in the final solo of the ‘Danza pastorale’ holds the listener in thrall. The OAE members relish their roles, demonstrating superb control of textures and dynamics, and if I find the barking dog portrayed by the violas in the second movement to be slightly dozy, their tone colour and articulation is perfectly geared to the overall sound.

Whereas in the opening of Spring a bit of recorded birdsong mingles with those of the violins at 59", the equally vivid trio of bird calls in the Allegro non moto of Summer are entirely conjured by the players. Debretzeni evokes a moment of palpable intimacy when portraying the tears of the village boy in the last solo. The meteorological dramas in the second and third movements are thrillingly atmospheric, thanks to inspired leadership and exceptional orchestral rapport.

Debretzeni is beguiling, indeed, in her Autumn solos, the OAE equally at home as peasants, dancing or drunken, and as posh hunters in pursuit of prey. The harpsichordist Robert Howarth mesmerises us in the second movement; and, at the climax of the third, the orchestra contribute novel percussion effects at 2'14".

Winter under Debretzeni could hardly disappoint: she and the OAE make us shudder with cold and at breaking ice; praise, too, for the theorbo-playing of Elizabeth Kenny in the first and last movements. Debretzeni ensures that the Largo trots along, light-hearted and impervious to the rain, and brings a swagger to the finale. Bravo!