Alexander Scriabin: Mysterium Acne is an annoying and often embarrassing skin disease that frequently plunges the teenage world into turmoil. If we can trust medical advice, one should never pick, gouge, pop, scratch or squeeze the infected skin as this

Chor der Krieger, Chor der Jünger Hier ist er, der Verbannte From Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives (2013) Released by Harmonia Mundi Beethoven: Chor der Krieger, Chor der Jünger – Hier ist er, der Verbannte In his only

The joys of Civil Service! If you really think that being a composer in the 18th and 19th centuries was an easy way to make a living, just ask Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752-1814). Born into a highly musical family in

One of the famous stories of demonic possession cured by music was David playing his harp to sooth King Saul (I Samuel). Although this is taken in modern times as the first instance of music therapy for the treatment of

Voltaire rightfully called Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) “le premier musicien de France.” Simultaneously looking backward and forward over French musical history, Rameau’s compositions uniquely capture the spirit of the Enlightenment. In all, Rameau published four books of keyboard music. The collections

Trains provide a nice rhythmic basis for music – the old chuga-chuga sound of a steam train might be replaced now with the smooth humming of electrics, but we can find music where the train meets the tracks.

At the end of Part 1 of this article, the countertenor voice was in a sorry state. Gone were the days of the star castrati, Farinelli and Senesino; the changing philosophical landscape of the Enlightenment had allowed the female voice

Franz Liszt famously proclaimed that instrumental music attempting to communicate or carry meanings, messages or concepts that originate from outside music itself, do need to carry a narrative or descriptive program in order to be understood. This program, essentially a