What happens when you take away a third of Vivaldi’s Spring? The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has teamed up with Cancer Research UK to present a new arrangement of Spring from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, in which a third of the notes have been omitted. The reimagined season, arranged by London-based composer Chris Roe, has been created to highlight the importance of charity legacies – one third of Cancer Research UK’s work is funded through gifts left in Wills.

“Many people don’t realise that gifts left in Wills fund a third of Cancer Research UK’s life-saving work, making legacy giving vital for us,” said Sarah Quire, senior legacy manager at Cancer Research UK. “Our work to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer has saved millions of lives, but we won’t stop until we’ve beaten cancer for good. That’s why it’s so important that people continue supporting us through legacy gifts. We hope our new arrangement of Vivaldi’s Spring will inspire supporters to continue funding that third of our work to enable us to keep up the pace of our research in the future.”

^{Composer Chris Roe}

“Vivaldi’s original Spring is one of the most celebrated and famous pieces of music – everyone knows it in one way or another,” said Roe. “It is an uplifting and jovial piece of music and, as a composer, it went against my natural instincts to take away a third of the notes.”

^{Chris Roe and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (missing one third)}

“We wanted to make the biggest impression as musically possible, and now the piece has been transformed to be tentative and uneasy,” he said. “The impact is immediate and is a powerful illustration of the effect that a missing third of something can have.”

For more information about Cancer Research UK and leaving a gift in your Will, click here.