Music
Don’t let it go
Communal singing is good for the soul
Spotify Wrapped is good for the soul
On the joys of exploring a year in music
A Soviet revelation
David Oistrakh: The Warner Remastered Edition (58CDs, 3DVDs)
A full-blooded blow-out
Kurt Weill: Symphonies, Seven Deadly Sins (DG)
Too many silences in this book about music
The hazy treatment of what “music” even entails falls flat
Lebrecht’s Album of the Year
Not just a great record but an essential one
Not a dull phrase
Ethel Smyth: 2nd sonata &c (Delphian)
Make high culture popular again
We need to face the music and embrace the highbrow
Exilic yearnings
Miklos Rozsa: violin concerto (LSO Live)
Passing the baton to the offspring
Does maestro talent run in the genes?
Will judges protect free speech for Christians?
A new case will determine whether expressing normal Christian beliefs precludes employment
Lily Phillips is a Rorschach test
Experience and behaviour are not solely reducible to consent
The great migration
What will Twitter do without its smuggest inhabitants?
The personal has become far too political
Something has gone very wrong when we are acutely aware of politics
Tablets of stone
Tech firms increasingly set the rules when it comes to education
The enemy of the Civil Service is my friend
Conservatives should hope that Keir Starmer can weaken its grip on British policy
A cruel choice
Today’s euthanasia bill risks sending Britain down a dark path
Reparate good times, come on!
The Critic’s Extremely Factual Guide to Slavery Reparations the UK Most Definitely Owes
The dismal state of British defence
The UK’s defence strategy is a combination of hope and vibes
A macabre sense of humour
Ligeti, Bartok: String quartets (BIS)
Brutalist beauties
These monstrosities were imposed on the population, not desired
