Musical surprises #19: That Russian sound is Italian
When you think of Russian folk music, what do you hear in your head? Probably the sound of someone playing a tune on a balalaika with that heart-rending tremolo on…
Musical surprises #18: 5/4 isn’t that odd in the 19th century
There’s a fairly common belief that until Stravinsky came along, everything was either in 4/4 or 3/4. When I was at school in the 70s, I remember one music lesson…