Kurt Weill: 2nd symphony, violin concerto (Somm)
A beautiful recording of an esoteric item
Isabella Leonarda; A portrait (Brilliant Classics)
Passion and originality blossom behind the walls of the cloister
Nico Muhly: Stranger (AVIE)
This new album of three works offers quiet empathy more than overwhelming emotion
Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the end of time (OUR)
Messiaen’s quartet, first performed in a freezing barracks in 1941, is a thing of great beauty
Finnish on a high note
The biggest symphony orchestras are in need of music directors: but who’s in the running for the top spot?
Ferdinand Ries: Piano Trio and Sextets (Hyperion)
Ludwig van Beethoven’s former secretary and pupil was no forgettable curiosity
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 7 & 9 (Hallé)
VW will never catch on beyond Anglophiles — ask not the reason why
Erwin Schulhoff: Violin sonatas (Orfeo/FHR)
Virtuosity amidst violence
Hans Winterberg: orchestral works (Capriccio)
The lost sounds of a German Jewish composer
Reynaldo Hahn: Poèmes & Valses (Hyperion)
This unfamiliar collection is the most enjoyable piano album of the year so far
Smartphones are not the source of all social ills
Phones and social media are easy scapegoats for our all too human follies
Banning masks from protests is a bad idea
Anonymity can be essential to dissent against tyrannical regimes
How the Greens blackened their name
The leadership of the Greens allowed gender fundamentalism to undermine the party
The awkward truth about sex and free speech
More women should realise that “inclusivity” should not come before freedom
The problem with public sector procurement
The Social Value Act has brought questionable benefits and serious costs
Small talk and big asks
Men’s mental health is a serious matter — but it is wrong to expect people to be lifesavers
Preaching to a dwindling choir
Once the default denomination of tycoons and the WASP elite, America’s Episcopal Church is struggling
Gorgeous George returns
George Galloway was delighted to be back — but was anyone delighted to see him?
Saving London from the czar
London’s nightlife could be great — but it needs real change
What are our cathedrals for?
Changes to the management of cathedrals have obscured the very point of their existence
The problem with securonomics
A genuine strategy for increasing our economic security and resilience as a society would not start with the state
