Classical Music
Surprise and tension
Czech Songs: Magdalena Kozena (Pentatone)
Word pictures at a gallery
Paintings are appreciated best when there are few people around to spoil the view
Well-behaved Beethoven
Beethoven: Triple concerto and British folksongs (Decca)
Polish strings
Grazyna Bacewicz: Symphonies 3 &4; Concerto for string orchestra (both on Chandos)
The glorious Ninth
Relive the moments when music changed forever
And the band played on
Cash crisis in the arts — what’s new?
Musical no man’s lands
Two violin concertos fail to inspire
Against the relegation of Record Review
Why is Radio 3 mistreating one of its greatest assets?
A great conductor leaves the stage
No conductor from China or Japan ever commanded world orchestras before Seiji Ozawa, and none has since matched his impact
A discordant song
Classical music may be the worst casualty of identitarian politics
If Donald Trump wins, it’s over
Three assassination attempts prove irrefutably that Trump is guilty of inciting violence
The first female President will be Republican
American conservatives are far less averse to assertive women than the political left
Out of power for half a century
As the Conservatives face the prospect of a long spell in opposition, they must heed the lessons of their predecessors
Join the escalation?
That world war may not erupt imminently is no excuse for being complacent
Sophocles’s lack-of-foresight saga
Families will feud, from the BC era to 2024
Death by a thousand cuts
The near-invisibility of the Proms on BBC TV is a symptom of the collapse of public service broadcasting in Britain
Bursary school
Refuse to play the poverty card
Is the culture war over?
Populist political victories do nothing to change the reality of progressive institutional dominance
Exilic yearnings
Miklos Rozsa: violin concerto (LSO Live)
Land of slippery slopes
Does anybody really believe assisted suicide will stop at the terminally ill?
Defending life and liberty
Abortion buffer zones hurt, rather than help women and babies
