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
A tumultuous decade of ingenious novelties
Did the English Revolution go full circle, replacing one overmighty king with another?
Bar none
The fraud behind the Bar Standards Board’s “equality and diversity” drive
Resist Labour’s managerial revolution
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are grimly committed to expanding the state and entrenching bureaucracy
Centre for a vassal state
Why is a think tank dedicated to “Inclusive Trade” trying to tie the UK to EU imports?
Keir’s comms catastrophe
Labour’s goal is clear but its messaging is anything but
What is Toryism for?
What has it done if it has not made a system it wishes to defend?
A macabre sense of humour
Ligeti, Bartok: String quartets (BIS)
The empty road to serfdom
“Vision Zero” is a tyrannical anti-driving dream
More than just noise
Berg, Schoenberg, Webern: Piano works (Warner)
Farewell to Larry Siedentop
The great political philosopher, Oxford don, and sage defender of Western liberalism
Strictly Come Tory
Who will win the hearts of the nation?
