Jordi Savall is one of the most prestigious scholars of early music, investing much of his work both in perfecting the performance of the pieces and in constructing a narrative that places the works in their historical context. In Istanbul 1700, based on Dimitrie Cantemir’s The Book of Science of Music, Savall revisits the richness of a city where cultures such as the Ottoman, Armenian and Sephardic converged. “I am from Barcelona,” Savall told the Financial Times in an explanation of his music. “A city open to the Mediterranean. In which, when we move towards the sea, we see the immensity of the horizon”.