We all know what a piano looks like – large and square, if it’s an upright; or large and black, if it’s a concert grand. Yet, through the years, piano makers have done many explorations into the design of piano

‘Comme de longs échos qui de loin se confondent…. Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent’ (As long echoes confound from afar….perfumes, colors and sounds respond to each other’) Charles Baudelaire, ‘Correspondances’ The recent exhibition at the Sackler

If you listen to Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from the Nutcracker, you are acutely aware of a silvery, ethereal and otherworldly sound coming from the orchestra. That sound, similar to that of the glockenspiel—a percussion instrument composed

One of the most eagerly encoded images in a number of different cultures and contexts is the angel sitting on a cloud and playing the harp. What could be more comforting upon leaving this earthly realm than being greeted by

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” Voltaire was certainly right on the money about warfare and humanity. And he was also right about the

Violins, guitars, mandolins, music sheets and references to classical composers are very much part of Braque’s oeuvre, particularly during his analytic and synthetic cubist period, which essentially started in the early part of the 20th century and lasted well into

The War to end all Wars—as World War I was colloquially known—put a brutal stop to most cultural events on the European continent. Although some determined aficionados managed to ignore the devastation caused by this all-encompassing conflict, most theaters, opera

Apparently, it is rather common practice to take the most expensive cars straight from the factory to a tuning shop. These specialists outfits tweak engines to produce the raw horsepower of the space shuttle and attach all manner of exterior