'Virtuoso performer – Zuluaga says – is emblematic of the most intense experimentation, of the eccentric and the bizarre, but mostly, of the art of improvisation and the difficulty of capturing it in written notation'. One of the liveliest debates today in early music is over defining performance criteria for historical music.

'Many 'outsiders' still think of historical performance as a predominantly technical exercise, focused on means rather than ends', Uri Golomb says in his introduction. He goes on to develop one of the most brilliant analyses ever done of these issues in recent times.

Lars Ulrik Mortensen, the Danish harpsichordist and director of Concerto Copenhagen, is enjoying a peak in his career and holds a friendly chat with Brian Robins.

And last but not least, the article that won the first essay contest held by the Goldberg Foundation. It is our pleasure to publish it in this issue 'Robert de Visée’s Musical Gravestones: the End of Grandeur and the Death of the French Lute' is the title of the brilliant essay written by the Canadian lute player and musicologist Benjamin Narvey, which won the contest by a unanimous decision of the jury.

Narvey is now working on his PhD in music at Oxford University, and continues to do research on French lute music of the Grand Siècle. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him, and also the other contestants who won prizes or participated in the competition. Our readers will be able to enjoy some of their articles in future editions.