Norman Lebrecht
The end of the Emersons
Infinite Voyage: Emerson Quartet (Alpha Classics)
Immense energies
Grazyna Bacewicz: Piano concertos &c (Ondine)
In the family
A rare contrast of composers
An epochal violinist
Eugene Ysaye: Solo violin sonatas (Deutsche Grammophon)
Too formal for the pub
Mr Händel im pub: Baroque meets folk (Arcantus)
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
Encompassing a life
RIP Kaija Saariaho
New work, sounding old
A disappointing new collection
The US city on the banks of the Thames
Critics don’t care for Canary Wharf, considering it a monument of 1980s corporatism
Hi-energy nutrients
Schoenfield, Vivier, Bartok &c (Accentus Music)
Nigel’s knees-up
Can Reform become a serious contender for power?
Impressive yet unmoving
Franz Schmidt: 4 symphonies (Naxos)
A house divided
American partisan divisions are the result of social atomisation
Getting the creeps
How should we cope with the unsettling in everyday life?
Public sector pay
Bumper pay rises for doctors and teachers are bound to result in higher inflation
Graduation blues
On the sad decline of the British university
Tense present
Our demand for immediacy makes it difficult to appreciate the past, the present or the future
Prom-lematic
Landlords, Lammy, “Land of Hope and Glory” and other questionable phenomena
Ministry of Silly Thoughts
Wes Streeting made the grave error of consulting the British people
