Classical Music
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
Bach in town
We need more classical music in public spaces
The vast plight of the Proms
The end of BBC Four is a death sentence for BBC Orchestras and the Proms alike
Kurt Weill: 2nd symphony, violin concerto (Somm)
A beautiful recording of an esoteric item
Isabella Leonarda; A portrait (Brilliant Classics)
Passion and originality blossom behind the walls of the cloister
Draining the swamp
Residents are hopeful that the mayor’s grip on Venice might at last be easing
Are we being misled on Georgia?
Claims of electoral fraud are serious — but they have not been substantiated
Up-and-down towns
The rise and fall of English towns in the 1960s and 80s
Spotify Wrapped is good for the soul
On the joys of exploring a year in music
Let’s leave the Commonwealth
There is no point in being a member just to be browbeaten about our past
When America ignored a slaughter
Whatever America’s flaws, its absence from the global stage leaves a space quickly filled by far more malevolent actors
The DUP aren’t tough negotiators
The party that claimed to stand up for unionists capitulated at every turn
Starmer’s tax will hurt children
It is not just a tax, it is cruel theft
The esoterica trap
We should not pollute good causes with unreliable information
Cardinal win
Conclave is a political drama and a closed-room mystery rolled into one
Shades of Gray
Never underestimate the mysterious yet powerful Sue Gray
