Lebrecht’s Album of the Week
Too formal for the pub
Mr Händel im pub: Baroque meets folk (Arcantus)
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
Organic rebirth
A monumental masterpiece, miraculously brought to life
Encompassing a life
RIP Kaija Saariaho
A lopsided performance
Brahms: Double concerto (Sony)
New work, sounding old
A disappointing new collection
Sonatas after slaughter
1919 Coda: Janacek, Boulanger, Debussy, Elgar (Delphian)
Pain, poise and passion
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: String quartets 1-3 (Naxos)
Most Read
The Book of JO’B
James O’Brien’s aggressive incuriosity is becoming ever more embattled as his worldview crumbles
The rise and fall of Nicola Sturgeon
The former SNP leader squandered her talents in a classic tale of hubris
Fear and fury in Belfast
Violence spiralled out of control in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of a shocking crime
The screaming spires
Oxford University must clarify where it stands on academic freedom
Nigel Farage, community leader
The logic of multiculturalism is turning on its architects
Boriswave denialism
Britain’s ruling class has used dependence on cheap labour as an economic strategy, and cannot see any other option
Sing for victory
The days when recording a novelty single was a pre-tour duty are long gone
Manic and messianic
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Royal Shakespeare Company
Broken windows
If small instances of disorder are neglected, greater ones will soon be committed
The art of statesmanship
An exhibition at the Wallace Collection shows how Britain’s greatest wartime leader found solace and satisfaction in painting
The end of anonymity?
The moral norms of the internet are being destroyed by zero sum politics
Excessive producer responsibility
Virtue-signalling policies are picking the pockets of consumers
Canis lupus labor
Europe is a wolf coming up the path to devour the Labour Party
The welfare state of things
Tom Jones and Chris Bayliss discuss the numbers behind Britain’s welfare state
Surrogacy is not a human right
Noble principles are being twisted to prop up an exploitative ideology
The trains have to run
Populists have had success in persuading people that they can govern — but can they actually govern?