Since our current early-music revival began in the mid-20th century, countertenors and mezzo-sopranos or contraltos have waged an undeclared war over which vocal type best replicates the great castrati voices of the 18th century. We look at several enduring recordings that spotlight this putative dispute.

In a new book every medievalist will need, ‘Early Medieval Wind Instruments,’ author Lucy-Anne Taylor uses available evidence to build horns and trumpets, bagpipes and hornpipes, bone pipes, panpipes, and an organ. Anything that helps us understand what Medieval music really sounded like is useful information.

Is historical performance practice facing a ‘correction’ — a downscaling that reflects a more accurate valuation of its current worth — or, instead, are we heading toward a paradigm shift, where a familiar old model proves to be inadequate and is overturned by a new, workable, and perhaps revolutionary replacement?

Pygmalion, the period instrument ensemble led by visionary French conductor Raphaël Pichon, again leads the way with an incisive and inspired account of the Bach ‘St. John Passion’ in its final 1749 version.