Album Review
A talented pianist and a battered piano
Bezhod Abduraimov: Shadows of my ancestors (Alpha-Classics)
What became of Tchaikovsky?
Tchaikovsky: 5th symphony etc (ICA Classics)
Essential all-embracing warmth
Gidon Kremer: Songs of Fate (ECM)
The light and the insubstantial
Poulenc and others: Chamber music (Calliope/DG)
Laid-back Bach
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Württemburg sonatas (ECM)
Rozsa’s regret
Miklos Rozsa: Orchestral works (Capriccio)
Stravinsky’s aching quality
Stravinsky, Bartok, Martinu: Works for violin and orchestra (BIS)
Superficial pleasures
A te, Puccini (Signum)
Modernism for the many
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra, Partita &c (Ondine)
Album of the year
The best of an inspiringly musical 2023
The sorry strategy
Reparations are a deeply dangerous strategy in the carnivorous world of geopolitics
The Age of Coles
The former vicar is perfectly suited for the Starmer years
Total eclipse of the art?
Activistic artists and curators are making art a niche political endeavour
What we don’t talk about when we talk about mental illness
We talk about mental health differently – but is it an improvement?
The effects of Brexit are still being misreported
A new paper has received a lot of attention — all of it undeserved
The afterlife of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko
Reflections on forty years since his death shook communist Poland
The year in military history
2024 has been a rewarding year for lovers of books and history
A tumultuous decade of ingenious novelties
Did the English Revolution go full circle, replacing one overmighty king with another?
Where are the calls for blasphemy laws coming from?
We should consider the voters as well as the politicians
There is more to ethics than “#BeKind”
It is not cruel to fear the consequences of legalising assisted dying
Sometimes it’s best to shoot the messenger
Ordinary citizens feel a greater claim than ever before to what goes on in public institutions
