Lebrecht’s Album of the Week
Gustav Mahler: 5th symphony (Pentatone)
Its ethos in Mahler remains inimitable
The Kreutzer Project (Avie)
An album sadly more quixotic than chivalric
Franz Schubert: String quintet/Quartettsatz (Chandos)
Intimations of life’s fragility
Jean Sibelius: Orchestral songs (LAWO)
The themes are cruel and cold
Alban Berg: Violin concerto &c. (Chandos)
A stunning marriage of the tragic and the erotic
Prokofiev, Tcherepnin: The Bark of Yearning (Avi-music)
This is prime Prokofiev
John Adams: Slonimsky’s Earbox (Alpha)
Among his best work
John Cage: Four Walls (Fuga Libera)
More than a little bit mad
Kurt Weill: 2nd symphony, violin concerto (Somm)
A beautiful recording of an esoteric item
The arts are under threat in Scotland
New legislation endangers freedom, but the arts have been enabling its suppression for some time
Everyone should be ashamed over Princess Kate but me
They spread unhinged fantasies while I asked sensible questions
Liz Truss was right but naive
She grasped the scale of Britain’s plight but misunderstood the nature of power
Venice’s tortuous tourist tax
How much public money has been wasted on a scheme which will be quietly retired?
Immigration restrictionists need more honest arguments
Our debates are side-stepping fundamental questions of morality
Could Britain have a coherent written constitution?
It seems probable that it would have a Christianity-shaped hole at its core
The Conservatives can still reform our cultural institutions
The Tories should cut the Blob down to size before Keir Starmer comes to power
Don’t ban anti-Israel marches
Principled and pragmatic arguments for prohibition are weak
Why Labour has the best history books
Labour continues to blunder down that long blind Blairite alleyway, unable to turn back or find an exit
Torygeddon
The Conservatives face an extinction level election, but there’s still time for some prehistoric bloodletting
The Conservatives should not cancel Christians
A Conservative party that demonises Christian convictions will cease to be conservative
