Would you believe that instrument cases have a history as long as the violins they contained? Instrument owners of yesterday, especially royal proprietors, saw fit to envelope their precious violins in ornate packaging. You wouldn’t dream of putting your priceless

Musical instruments in China were traditionally classified into 8 groups delineated by the material used in the instrument: Silk, Bamboo, Wood, Stone, Metal, Clay, Gourd and Hide. We will look at selected instruments in six of these groups in this

Within the context of fine arts, the term naïve is used to describe artists who work in an unsophisticated style with a child-like simplicity. Frequently such works ignore artistic conventions like the rules of perspective, and employ strong patterns and

Concerto per “Violino in Tromba” in G Major, RV 313: I. [Allegro] From Vivaldi: Il teatro alla moda (2015) Released by Harmonia Mundi Vivaldi: Concerto per “Violino in Tromba” in G Major, RV 313: I. [Allegro]1720: in his famous pamphlet

Compulsion to Compose Early twentieth-century modernists in music eagerly explored various ways of breaking with the Romantic tradition. For Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959), born in a church tower above the Czech-Moravian Highlands, the initial point of departure was grounded in the

A cynic was once defined as somebody “whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.” Truth be told, having sat through hundreds of uninspiring, unimaginative and downright insulting performances of classical music, it’s getting

The UK is home to perhaps the most active and diverse choral scene in the world. Yet, with their inventive programming and distinctive blend, Reverie are building an international reputation within this crowded market. The group, made up of many

It’s often a puzzle for us how to hear very familiar music with new ears. When you’ve heard countless blah recordings of the Vivaldi this or the Bach that, it’s hard to get them back into our ears to being