Lebrecht’s Album of the Week
The meaning of life itself
Sir Thomas Beecham: Complete stereo recordings (Warner)
Prodigiously original
Alkan: Early works (Piano Classics)
Debussy, Messiaen: Extase (Pentatone)
Kozena brings an unexpected touch of Janacek in the night
Unjustly overlooked but somewhat undercooked
Elsa Barraine: 2 symphonies &c.(CPO)
Witnessing the birth of a star
Sergei Rachmaninoff: 3rd piano concerto (Decca)
Just Biber (Outhere Music)
A slinky, fun-loving playing style
Why does this record exist?
Wilhelm Furtwängler: 2nd symphony (Chandos)
Castanets in her socks
Martha Argerich Edition (Warner Classics, 46 CDs)
The sweet sounds of catastrophe
Shostakovich/Britten: Cello works (Decca)
An Easter surprise
Songs from Japan and Europe (TYXart)
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
Embers to tend
The brilliance of Sappho has been obscured by rumour and neglect
A step forward for academic freedom
It is time to take the fight to censoriousness in higher education
Britain needs a moral core
The UK’s greatest vulnerability isn’t its weakened military but its lack of spiritual depth
Kemi Badenoch was right about the chaos in Clapham
Rioting as entertainment is a First World phenomenon
From Wigton to Wadham College
The Oxford Bragg describes is almost as much another world to us now as it was to him then
This apology for a political comedy
Amusing as a war crimes trial, and seems to last twice as long
Peston’s Inbox
Kemi doesn’t give her kids Easter eggs
The ephemeral Farage
Nigel Farage’s appearance in Parliament was as rare as it was undistinguished
The Bible in the dock
Free speech for Christians is still under assault
The truth about Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was actually a black woman
A Laboured response
Keir Starmer and his advocates are all out of ideas