The Aston Magna Festival, which stakes a claim as the oldest period-instrument festival in the country, turned 50 this past summer. As its long-time artistic director, violinist Daniel Stepner, plans to retire, the venerable festival is in for major changes.
The Best-Kept Secret in American Early Music? Read More »
Pauline Viardot was a celebrated opera star in the 19th c. with a rewarding creative life, inspiring Berlioz and Brahms, playing duets with Chopin and Clara Schumann, and composing operettas and reams of mélodies for her own voice. But her youthful keyboard music has been unknown, only rediscovered by fortepianist Patricia GarcÃa Gil and released in a charming new recording.
Composer Pauline Viardot Rediscovered Read More »
An early musician’s rant about the streaming-service behemoth Spotify: We have better options! From sound and search to library size and liner notes, there are two newer services that will improve the quality of your early-music listening experience. They’re somewhat more fair in artist compensation, too, a meaningful distinction for the consumer.
I Care How You Listen: Streaming Early Music Read More »
In a revealing look into the lives of ‘ordinary’ folks in 17th and 18th c. Germany, author Tanya Kevorkian taps a wealth of sources that detail city life, from religious beliefs to weddings to the rhythms and rules of town watchmen. With compassion and wisdom, the author notes that historians who look at street life “have to some degree replicated the perspective of the authorities.”
Life on the Streets Read More »
Emily Zazulia’s valuable ‘Where Sight Meets Sound: the Poetics of Late-Medieval Music Writing’ explores notational aesthetics in polyphonic music, where it’s not obvious how you’re meant to sing what’s on the page.
Medieval Sights and Sounds Read More »
