Classical Music
A madman’s guide to Wagner
You don’t have to be crazy to enjoy Wagner, but it helps
Is classical colonial?
Naive proposals to “decolonise” Western classical music risk losing the richness of its history
Ferdinand Ries: Piano Trio and Sextets (Hyperion)
Ludwig van Beethoven’s former secretary and pupil was no forgettable curiosity
De-Goulding: an incomplete coda
Part two of Mahan Esfahani’s deconstruction of the modern association of pianist Glenn Gould with Bach’s Goldberg Variations
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 7 & 9 (Hallé)
VW will never catch on beyond Anglophiles — ask not the reason why
Last swipe at the Proms
Is it time to give a grudging nod of acknowledgement to the BBC Proms?
Erwin Schulhoff: Violin sonatas (Orfeo/FHR)
Virtuosity amidst violence
Hans Winterberg: orchestral works (Capriccio)
The lost sounds of a German Jewish composer
Wagner rides again
A return to enchanted tradition in Siegfried at Longborough Festival Opera
The eye of the storm
Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque, Vivaldi, The Four Seasons
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On Britain as a capitalist command economy
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Saint Nicola
Nicola Sturgeon wants sympathy for her husband’s crimes—but after years spent avoiding awkward questions, her latest reinvention may be the hardest sell yet.
Reform’s man in Makerfield
An interview with Rob Kenyon about online controversies and national priorities
Marriage and muscular liberalism
The Fury controversy exposes the contradictions behind Britain’s new marriage laws
A step forward for academic freedom
It is time to take the fight to censoriousness in higher education
The Starmer strikes back
In a galaxy far, far from stable, Labour’s leadership chaos overshadows the King’s Speech
The emperor’s old advisor
McSweeney’s performance before MPs suggests age and experience hasn’t brought clarity — only better excuses
The Symphony’s Indian summer
Imagine hearing a symphony for the first time
The Falklands tragedy
British weakness is endangering the Falklands
Giles Treadwell
Old-style literary agent
Scotland’s cold and durable fire
John Swinney is proving that in politics what matters most is simply showing up
British comedy: a post-mortem
British comedy has become safe, stale and contrived
Iran has been fatally misunderstood
The US and Israel were foolish to imagine that the Iranians would crumble
Graphics, games and occult entities
A retrospective of Treister’s work reveals the frictions in the artist’s motivations