The Symphony’s Indian summer
Imagine hearing a symphony for the first time
Beyond Carmen
Georges Bizet: The piano works (Hyperion)
Eroticism and intrigue
Out of Vienna (Alpha-Classics)
Standout singers
If Music (Erato), Day of These Days (Delphian) & Eisnacht (Genuin)
Italian elegance
Italian Perspectives (Pentatone)
Mehta’s protest over the Gaza war
In the run-up to his 90th birthday, Zubin Mehta decided to sever contact with Israel
Diabolically good
Sergei Prokofiev: 2nd violin concerto &c (Warner Classics)
Alkan the Awesome
Alkan: Complete organ works, vol. 1 (Signum Classics)
The lost soul of Hungarian music
Leo Weiner: Violin concerto (Naxos)
A cherishable dream
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius (Hyperion)
Most Read
Why they hated Ann Widdecombe
Fair-minded people could agree or disagree with her opinions. Left-wing bigots hated her for not abandoning them
A chaplain’s vindication
The case of Dr Bernard Randall has exposed the rot in our institutions
Amnesty irrational
Gender identity ideologues cannot get away with baseless smears any more
The myth of banned books
If transgression is fun and easy, it is probably not transgressive
The case against recognising Somaliland
The Somaliland lobby is being dangerously naive about the realities of the region
Rage against the dying of the night
The loss of the soft-lit splendour of London after dark
The (in)justice of the Equality Act
Far from guaranteeing equal treatment, the Equality Act has transformed Britain’s understanding of equality from individual rights to group identity
Pick up sticks
Christopher Pincher saunters around
town with a stylish walking cane
Britain should speak up for Egypt’s persecuted Christians
We should oppose blasphemy laws at home and abroad
Strange new world
A new art history hinges on a proleptic reading of Edwardian history
The cost of equal outcomes
By treating disparities in mental health detention as evidence of racism, the NHS is sacrificing safety
Two cheers for Keir
Keir Starmer enjoyed a warm end to a chilly premiership
The hollow men
T. S. Eliot understood contemporary politicians better than they understand themselves
Hippo critical
No Roman left a greater intellectual legacy than Augustine, whose writings shaped Christianity and the Western mind for more than a millennium
Election objections
Andy Burnham doesn’t need a general election mandate
The sleep of reason
Sir Mark Rowley’s forgotten police thriller reveals the assumptions, anxieties and moral universe of Britain’s managerial elite.