Classical Music
Flickering with fire and ice
Beethoven: 1st piano concerto, &c (DG)
Why do we persist with Opera?
Dependent on state subsidies, artistically ossified and only a few go to see it
Against pop culture populism
The phoney courage of disdaining classical music
The end of the Emersons
Infinite Voyage: Emerson Quartet (Alpha Classics)
Immense energies
Grazyna Bacewicz: Piano concertos &c (Ondine)
Requiem for London’s music
How London has lost its place as a classical music capital.
Unenticing overtures
Rautavaara: 3rd piano concerto (Bis); Overtures from Finland (Chandos)
Contemplating infinity
Franz Liszt: Transcendental Etudes (Steinway)
Inconsistent glory
Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphonies 2 and 3
We are indebted to Otto Klemperer
On the extraordinary talent of a troubled composer
The Conservatives must reject Human Quantitative Easing
It has been a disaster for the party and for the nation
Making a mockery of Labour
The ministers just can’t yet do chaos like the Tories could
The great British giveaway
The handover of the Chagos Islands reflects a wider lack of realism in UK foreign policy
Only the truly privileged can be cultural relativists
It is easy not to judge appalling cultural practices from a distance
Graduation blues
On the sad decline of the British university
How Roman women were victimised twice
The victims of abuse could also be degraded by historians
Going solo
This Christmas, 40 competitors will face the most difficult sporting challenge on the planet
Boris: the PM who could do no wrong
This must be in competition for the most inaccurate work of non-fiction since … well, since Johnson’s last book
Don’t idolise Roger Scruton
Our reverence for the late thinker must not limit our imaginations
Bonfire of the verities
Plotting a path through the new politics
The public sector must reform or die
Too big to fail? It is too big to succeed
