This week's roundup features a herculean sonata-ranking effort, Max Richter's meditation app, plants, robots, and, yeah, Hildegard von Blingin'.
1. Scarlatti wrote 555 sonatas (!!). But what if we told you... that not all of them... are good? Writer Jeffrey Arlo Brown's heroic undertaking for VAN Magazine: ranking all -- yes, all -- of Scarlatti's sonatas, from worst to best.
2. In the age of social distancing, concerts look pretty different. Take, for example, pianist Alexander Krichel, whose post-recital flowers were handed over not by a human, but by a robot:
3. Composer Max Richter released a meditation app this week, called "Sleep," based on his eight-and-a-half hour composition of the same name.
4. This summer's Tanglewood music festival may not be happening in person, but it sure is happening online! Here's how it'll work, and here are 10 concerts the Boston Globe's music critics think you should see. (In addition, we're hosting a mini-festival right here on WCRB!)
5. Rhiannon Giddens and Yo-Yo Ma released a song for Juneteenth, called "Build a House."
6. The National Virtual Medical Orchestra is a newly-formed group for medical professionals who are also musicians, giving them a place to play during the pandemic. Here's their debut performance -- show them some love!
7. Last week we told you about the opera house that would be hosting a concert for an audience of plants. This week, it happened, and the photos and videos are stunning!
8. We've discovered a new favorite YouTube channel: Hildegard von Blingin' makes medieval-esque "bardcore" covers of modern pop songs. They're all masterpieces, but here are a few standout favorites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRIfsFefatg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch1aVmjvYTI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeFiIjMIlRw
