The Critics

BBC Radio 3 is drowning in a puddle of self-willed mediocrity

Conductors should leave accompanying to the collaborative pianists

A gloomy production of a glittering opera

Nick Cave sounds as good as ever

The recent restoration of Erich von Stroheim’s Foolish Wives shows that the original movie is astonishingly modern

A tale that proves the media and the public still thrill to an art theft

A set of fine programmes on the American bohemians who brought to life a great city on the cusp of significant change

Summer theatre where anything, including a return to rehearsal-room Brechtian, goes

The elegant narrative solution of suicide has had no greater cheerleader than opera

There is a deep appetite among Britain’s television audience for dramas that tackle complicated social issues