Harry Bicket discusses the development of period instrument performance during the past several decades.
Bicket reveals his belief that attitudes towards the practice should be revised, allowing ensembles like The English Concert to be judged directly against orchestras that perform on modern instruments.
Other Blog Posts
Monteverdi Vespers at Garsington
(c) Garsington Opera
Handel vs the Opera of the Nobility
It’s easy to think of Handel as the all-conquering hero, arriving in London from his Italian adventures, and commanding the operatic scene for the rest of his life. While any passer-by on the streets
Wanted for murder
There are plenty of mysteries out there in the musical world: the two heads inside Haydn’s tomb, the enigma behind Elgar’s variations. But what of the gruesome murder of poor Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764)? From
Tainted love: the making of a monster
It’s the mother of all bad hair days for Scylla in Leclair’s only opera. Based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Scylla is just a nymph going about her business. Not especially interested in love, she rejects
Aphra Behn: International Woman of Mystery
Secret agent, prisoner, playwright and poet. Clearly there was never a dull moment in the life of this 17th century International Woman of Mystery. While her blood-thirsty play Abdelazer attracts our attention because of
More Game of Thrones than Young Person’s Guide
Benjamin Britten’s (1913-1976) extraordinary piece The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra has been a favourite of education schemes and family orchestral concerts for years. Britten pinched one of Henry Purcell’s (1659-1695) themes and