I’m very interested in instrumentally performed Renaissance music, and I very much enjoy listening to it. But it’s not that easy to find recordings of that musical era without singers. (This is not really true, … Read more
In February/March 2021 I took an online course on Solmization, modes and psalmody, led by Isaac Alonso de Molina and organized by Escuela de Polifonía Opera Omnia. It was great! I participated because I had … Read more
I’m very happy to present a new project: The Imperfect Pearl. Next to Isidro Albarreal (baroque violin), Inés Salinas (viola da gamba) and Gabriele Levi, (harpsichord) I founded a new Early Music Ensemble focussed on … Read more
I‘d like to introduce a subcategory to Historically Informed Perfomance Practice (HIP): Historically Informed Creativity (HIC). The creative aspects for musicians from the early music epochs (Middle ages, Renaissance, Baroque) included improvising, diminuting, ornamenting, arranging … Read more
As in the early music scene we like to point out the similarities between early music and jazz in terms of conception of the music (improvisations, variations, creativity, openness of the repertory…) would/should this statement … Read more
Quite a difficult decision when you can only choose 5 CD’s! Here they go, in alphabetical order: Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet: A Concorde of Sweete Sound (L’Oiseau-Lyre, 1993) Karl-Ernst Schröder & Crawford Young: Amours Amours … Read more
Milena Cord-to-Krax | Sofia Chekalina | César Queruz
Last 21-12-15 I played a concert in Berlin with Sofia Chekalina (baroque cello) and César Queruz (tiorba) at KiezKulturWerkstadt. It was the first time for me to travel to Berlin and I had spoken with César via eMail, but we only got to know each other 3 days before the concert. His teacher Björn Collel kindly put us into contact after I asked him whether he knew anybody who would like to play with me at my friend’s, Javi Vela’s, small and very beautiful stage in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In the end we performed as a trio, as Sofia joined us. Everything worked out fine and we had a good time. I hope we’ll repeat. 🙂
“It is not likely that anybody could question the necessity of ornaments. They are found everywhere in music, and are not only useful, but indispensable. They connect the notes; they give them life. They emphasise them, and besides giving accent and meaning they render them grateful; they illustrate the sentiments, be they sad or merry, and take an important part in the general effect. They give to the player an opportunity to show off his technical skill and powers of expression. A mediocre composition can be made attractive by their aid, and the best melody without them may seem obscure and meaningless.”
— Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) in Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (Berlin, 1753)
(☞ found on dolmetsch.com‘s music theory online: ornamentation)
‘The harder we work to imitate the past, the more personal and contemporary the results will be.’
— Bruce Haynes in The End of Early Music