Is there anything more Halloweenish than Neil Gaiman? Oh yes, there is: an album by Neil Gaiman and the FourPlay String Quartet. Described as a “Classical Crossover”, it features Neil’s voice alongside a violin, two violas and a cello. Words are primarily by Neil, when they’re not from Shakespeare, and the music follows without effort. […]
If you ask someone for a Christmas classical piece, they’ll most likely answer The Nutcracker. Everyone knows that. But what happens if you ask the same about Halloween? There probably won’t be such a unanimous answer. Some might say Carl Orff‘s Carmina Burana, for the haunting fake medieval mood. Except there’s nothing haunting about it […]
Probably not the best song from Nightwish, certainly not my favourite though I like this a lot, it’s possibly the most haunting. Ghost River is part of the underrated album Imaginaerum, composed for a generic vocalist during a transition period in the life of the band, and the whole album is “about the celebration of […]
I know this opinion might be unpopular with music connoisseurs, but I liked what Deep Purple did with their 2017 studio album Infinite. My favourite track has to be “The Surprising”, and it’s a perfect feature for this Spooky Season with its haunting atmosphere, its mythical and biblical echoes. With the narrative voice intruding into […]
When we talked about the boar’s head as a traditional Christmas dish, we mentioned “Boar’s Head Carol”, one of the oldest Christmas carols to date. Today we take a look at another Christmas Carol from the XVI Century, and perhaps the one with the most enthralling history of them all: the Coventry Carol. It’s usually […]
Today on my Patreon, the post is free to read even if you’re not subscribed. We take a look at the ultimate evil Fairy Godmother, Carabosse, and her sister Magotine. Carabosse is famous for being the wicked fairy in the Sleeping Beauty ballet (stage name Maleficent, I guess) but who invented the character? Step in […]
My main character uses silly rhimes a lot, both as a trick while thinking and when he has to time something. Since the novel is set in 1701, and many nursery rhymes and tunes were not collected until a century and a half later, I had to ask myself which ones I could refer to […]
This is a thing I didn’t know I needed. Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, narrated by Tilda Swinton (2013, 60 min.) Narrated by Tilda Swinton, this film was made in conjunction with the exhibition Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929: When Art Danced with Music. The impresario Serge Diaghilev was the creator and driving force […]
Good morning, my darlings, here we are again. There is no official announcement yet, but it has been made clear that here in Milan we will spend another 8 days in pretty much the same situation we had the last week: schools of all kinds and order will still be closed, although it isn’t clear […]
I like music and I rarely stay in silence while I’m working or writing, or traveling (but, mostly, working). I sing too, mainly while I’m driving or under the shower. And, as you might have guessed from my previous assertion, I’m not a music expert. I rarely dabble into the topic on these pages: this blog […]