Choreographed steps, a cadence (a large jump landing with one leg ahead of the other) and a lavolta (a controversial intimate move, in which the man picks up the woman and spins her in the air, considered inappropriate by some). All these are part of the most popular Renaissance dance throughout Europe in the 16th century: the galliard.… Read more
For the second week in a row, we have some pretty weak musical choices. I’m not sure whether it’s solely the music or my mood, but this week felt like it was dedicated to boredom. There were no interesting works in it except for this Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn, and we’re talking about skipping compositions by Mozart, Debussy and Schubert.… Read more
The honourable mention of the week goes to “Consolations S. 172”, a set of six solo piano works by Franz Liszt, out of which I particularly like the first four ones. They are so serene that you are immediately transposed into the realm of dreams and because their rhythm is extremely slow, you need to be in the right mood, in search of peace and tranquillity, in order to fully enjoy them.
We start the year with some big names (Bach, Beethoven) and some unknown ones for me at least, since I’m not exactly a big connoisseur in this domain.
At number 4, we have a new find for me: “O virtus sapientiae” by Hildegard of Bingen. I have to admit I’d never heard of this name before and it turns out this was a very intelligent and notable lady of the 12th century (a nun, a composer, a scientist and many other things – more details can be found in the book).… Read more