Classical Music
An essential record
Norman Lebrecht reviews Shostakovich: Violin concertos 1&2, performed by Alina Ibragimova and the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia
The sadder side of summer
Tragedy struck Gustav Mahler, the archetypal summer composer, in 1907
A path open to us all
Daniel Johnson reviews Wagner’s Parsifal, by Roger Scruton
Welcome to the unfrozen North
How Canada reinvented its musical prowess
Tapping into history
As soon as you enter Idagio.com you can kiss your working day goodbye
Scruton’s Danubian overtures
Sir Roger Scruton: A classical composer and inspiration to Hungarian students
High notes go wrong
Flying is a macho thing for musicians. It shows they are in demand and living the good life
Schlock of the new
Those in charge are in thrall to vain provocateur directors
High Drama on the Podium
Norman Lebrecht on the late, great Mariss Jansons who died on December 1st
Traditional rebels
Why music students are resisting the new teaching regime
Twilight of the gods
The eclipse of the gilded 1980s generation can be seen as a welcome changing of the guard
Immigration is still the elephant in the room
Violence is appalling, yet we have to understand the conditions from which it emerged
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
The magic of the original stubbornly refused to rise from the dead and save the movie from mediocrity
Starmer the farmer
The Labour battle bus rolls into bucolic England
Troublesome women
Rebellious heroines and unscrupulous heroes
A very innocent man
Donald Trump is innocent squared. He never does, or is, anything by halves
Hungary: treading a fine line
Can it stay equidistant from the great powers while maintaining trade connectivity?
Will Starmer suppress dissent?
The riots should not be an excuse for a broader assault on civil liberties
Kimchi culture
A new gallery pursues a pungent kind of artistic and intellectual renewal
Doing something can be worse than doing nothing
The Gaza pier and the failings of a “do something” foreign policy
The Greens are worse than useless
Their reputation for being nice if a touch naive is far too generous
