Orchestra
Savour the silence
The first duty of a conductor is to imagine a world without noise
And the band played on…
The appointment of a chief conductor little affects the general performance of an orchestra
High notes go wrong
Flying is a macho thing for musicians. It shows they are in demand and living the good life
High Drama on the Podium
Norman Lebrecht on the late, great Mariss Jansons who died on December 1st
The perils of privilege
Musa Okwonga’s memoir about his time at Eton is a confused account of having access to everywhere but belonging nowhere
The calamitous course of history
Reading Doom might not save us, but it leaves us with a better appreciation of the complex politics of catastrophe
Party political
Claudia Savage-Gore loses sleep plotting a stealth-lavish birthday party
Crowned heads and brass hats
Professor Jeremy Black talks to Graham Stewart about military monarchs
Tangled up in the myth of Dylan
Age hasn’t withered Dylan. He was always running towards it, arms open wide.
Cricket’s bible takes the knee
Michael Henderson says, hats off, everybody, to the troupers of the famous yellow Almanack
“Billary” and Me
David Smith recalls his relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton during his time working as a correspondent The White House
The German threat to English exceptionalism
As England prepare to face the “old enemy” at Wembley, its impact on the nation’s mood — and our wider politics — cannot be underestimated
Last orders
Is this the end of the hospitality industry?
The case against climate change
Campaigners are using the courts to challenge states and utilities on greenhouse gases