Fifteenth in our series of guest articles marking Early Music Month By Karen Burciaga “If music be the food of love…” We’ve all heard Shakespeare’s famous words, whether in his plays or movie adaptations. But in our modern age of LOLs and IMHOs, how do we make his archaic writings come alive again? It seemed […]
(Not Quite) Easy As Lying: Fitting Music to Shakespeare’s Plays Read More »
When I’m choosing a work for SHAK, the opera’s plot has to pass a few tests too. It needs strong female characters and a premise more entertaining for kids than plain old love-and-duty fare. And it needs to avoid plots that hinge on colonial conquest or conversion.
An all-ages adaptation of Handel’s ‘Serse’ Read More »
As a man, he lived in what we now call the Baroque period, yet his music knows no such limiting label. The Musical Offering, the B Minor Mass, and the Art of Fugue are timeless summings-up of his compositional art but everything he wrote transcends the period in which he composed it.
Thoughts for Bach’s 332nd Birthday Read More »
Histories of keyboard music frequently bypass this large repertoire of “derived” (arranged) music, so one notes with satisfaction the very thorough coverage here, with a generous amount of illustrative material, tables of publications, music examples, and facsimiles.
Keyboard Songs In Need Of No Words Read More »
Telemann’s concertos all adhere to the same slow-fast-slow-fast, four-movement layout, yet are varied enough in texture, length, and rhythm — and, most crucially, inventive enough — to make continuous listening a pleasure in the lively hands of Dutch recorder virtuoso Erik Bosgraaf and friends.
Doubling Your Pleasure With Telemann Read More »
