Vivaldi was not the only composer to write a universally popular Four Seasons. Composed directly after The Creation (Naxos 8.557380–81), Haydn’s oratorio The Seasons features three peasant soloists who sing of the joys, trials and tribulations of country life throughout the year, complete with a chorus of villagers. Haydn’s genius transforms many genre scenes – a summer storm, hunting episodes, daybreak, the gloomy winter fog and peasant dances – into something truly spectacular, joyous and lifeaffirming, in keeping with his deeply held religious conviction.