Unenticing overtures
Rautavaara: 3rd piano concerto (Bis); Overtures from Finland (Chandos)
Contemplating infinity
Franz Liszt: Transcendental Etudes (Steinway)
Inconsistent glory
Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphonies 2 and 3
We are indebted to Otto Klemperer
On the extraordinary talent of a troubled composer
Organic rebirth
A monumental masterpiece, miraculously brought to life
Encompassing a life
RIP Kaija Saariaho
Delicate decadence
A tantalising selection of songs
A lopsided performance
Brahms: Double concerto (Sony)
Stravinsky’s reputation is in freefall
Norman Lebrecht re-examines the life and legacy of Stravinsky.
New work, sounding old
A disappointing new collection
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The meaning of football is intertwined with the meaning of faith
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There is nothing weird or dishonest about having a dual existence
Why has Keir Starmer been so unpopular?
He was the perfect embodiment of a failing system
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Justified dissatisfaction with liberal modernity has curdled into something alarmist and authoritarian
North Korea’s rogue state development
How Kim Jong Un is embracing the modern world
Reform should ignore bad faith criticism
The party is not perfect but that does not make all criticism valid
Picking at old wounds
The campaign to rejoin the EU has been revived
The centre-left is out of ideas
The new journal Arguably barely makes an argument
The slow vibe shift
Escaping our “post-cultural state” will not happen overnight
A criminal abuse of the law
Our criminal justice system is deferential to those who abuse it while coming down hard on the innocent
California dying
The world’s dream factory now produces scenes from a dystopia
A memo crying in the wilderness
Why does the Church of England now sound like an HR department?
AI, religion and AI religion
Pope Leo is right to push back against the prophets of AI supremacy and AI doom
Right-wing fight night
A debate over the future of right-wing politics in Britain offered little heat and less light