Sounds from another time
THE great thing about early music, particularly instrumental, is that one does not need to know about it to enjoy it. The 10th East Cork Early Music Festival starts on Thursday, Oct 4. Early music is different from symphonic/sonatas/chamber music, which developed structures to suit their modes of expression. An appreciation of these structures enables listeners to appreciate the compositions.
Before approximately 1750, there seems to have been a musical world of infinite variety. Rarely does one find pieces of music prior to that date that last for more than six or seven minutes. There was a great dependence by composers on dance forms, both slow and fast, and the instruments used, and their tuning, were subject to constant change.
