Classical Music
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Cello Works and Piano Sonatas
If you want an entry point to Weinberg, this is it
Metamorphosen (Chandos)
John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London reinterpret Metamorphosen chillingly as elegy
Ligeti and Kodaly: Lux Aeterna (OUR Recordings)
The otherworldly and the down-to-earth
Harrison Birtwistle: Chamber works (BIS)
The British composer — still writing at 87 years of age — is an acquired taste
Interview: Semyon Bychkov on Ukraine and nationhood
He discusses exile, the horrors of totalitarianism and why Russophobia is not the answer
Who is a Ukrainian musician?
Music and ethnicity are both more complex than nationalism allows
Too darn hot
Carmen still shocks and seduces
Joyce DiDonato: Eden (Erato); Asmik Grigorian: Rachmaninov (Alpha)
This is singing as mildly polemical conversation, from her to us
Grazyna Bacewicz: Piano works (Ondine)
One would never imagine Stalinist oppression was raging all around her
Nastasia Khrushcheva: Normal Music (Melodiya)
In troubled times for Russia, this album hints at the future of the country’s music
War crimes and Western double standards
How can politicians cheer the ICC pursuing Putin but not Netanyahu?
Hatred without end
A year on from October 7th, mutual dehumanisation and refusal of moral responsibility characterises our “debate” over the Gaza war
The first victim of empire
England is an ongoing casualty of the British imperial project
A nuclear nothing?
Is Russia’s new nuclear doctrine hot air, or an explosive new factor in world affairs?
The 300 Years’ War
How conflict over land ownership shaped conflict over Ireland
How Putin uses history as a weapon
Russia’s new Tsar has rewritten the national story
White male conservatives for identity politics
Kemi Badenoch’s supporters should have fewer illusions
Light in the darkness
In conversation with Nigel Biggar about his career and the work of the Pharos Foundation
The restless life of a very bourgeois rebel
Gauguin was not an artist who lent himself to categorisation
Draining the swamp
Residents are hopeful that the mayor’s grip on Venice might at last be easing
Labour’s inaction on religious persecution
The Freedom of Religion or Belief brief is simply being ignored by the government
