Damian Thompson

Damian Thompson is an associate editor of The Spectator

(image: istock)

Cult classic

21 October 2017 9:00 am

In Dan Brown’s new thriller, Origin, we are introduced to the Catholic church’s sinister far-right rival — a paranoid worldwide…

Make mine a double

14 October 2017 9:00 am

If two concert pianists are performing a work written for two grand pianos, there are two ways you can position…

Losing our religion

5 August 2017 9:00 am

Sir James MacMillan’s European Requiem, performed at the Proms on Sunday, isn’t about Brexit. The composer had to make this…

Beethoven: Missa solemnis

29 July 2017 9:00 am

When you first encounter it, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis can sound like the Ninth Symphony with more singing but no tunes.…

Evgeny Kissin in 1993

Kissin in action

17 June 2017 9:00 am

Is Evgeny Kissin, born in Moscow in 1971, the most famous concert pianist in the world? Probably not, if you…

The finest Wotan around: Latvian bass-baritone Egils Silins

Period drama

27 May 2017 9:00 am

Harpsichordists are supposed to make love, not war: Sir Thomas Beecham famously compared the sound they make to ‘two skeletons…

Mission impossible?

29 April 2017 9:00 am

Just before Peter Donohoe played the last of Alexander Scriabin’s ten piano sonatas at the Guildhall’s Milton Court on Sunday,…

Time to retire: pianist Maurizio Pollini at the Royal Festival Hall in March 2016

All’s well that ends well

25 March 2017 9:00 am

There’s a moment in the finale of Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata when the frenzied piano writing turns unexpectedly jolly. The late…

The plot against the Pope

11 March 2017 9:00 am

On the first Saturday in February, the people of Rome awoke to find the city covered in peculiar posters depicting…

The plot against the Pope

9 March 2017 3:00 pm

On the first Saturday in February, the people of Rome awoke to find the city covered in peculiar posters depicting…

Safe and sound

21 January 2017 9:00 am

This week the Southbank Centre began its ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ festival — a series of concerts and talks claiming…

Safe and sound

19 January 2017 3:00 pm

This week the Southbank Centre began its ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ festival — a series of concerts and talks claiming…

Safe and sound

19 January 2017 3:00 pm

This week the Southbank Centre began its ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ festival — a series of concerts and talks claiming…

The trouble with Francis

14 January 2017 9:00 am

On 2 January, the Vatican published a letter from Pope Francis to the world’s bishops in which he reminded them…

Brahms’s benders

10 December 2016 9:00 am

‘Brahms and Liszt’ is a lovely bit of rhyming slang, but it doesn’t have the ring of authenticity. Can you…

Brahms’s benders

8 December 2016 3:00 pm

‘Brahms and Liszt’ is a lovely bit of rhyming slang, but it doesn’t have the ring of authenticity. Can you…

Brahms’s benders

8 December 2016 3:00 pm

‘Brahms and Liszt’ is a lovely bit of rhyming slang, but it doesn’t have the ring of authenticity. Can you…

Magnetic north

12 November 2016 9:00 am

Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…

Magnetic north

10 November 2016 3:00 pm

Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…

Magnetic north

10 November 2016 3:00 pm

Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…

Grave goods

15 October 2016 9:00 am

There’s a folder in my computer’s external hard drive in which you’ll find 24 complete recordings of the Bach Cello…

Charles Own performing at the London Piano Festival, Kings Place. Photo: Amy T. Zielinski/Redferns

Grave goods

13 October 2016 2:00 pm

There’s a folder in my computer’s external hard drive in which you’ll find 24 complete recordings of the Bach Cello…

Charles Own performing at the London Piano Festival, Kings Place. Photo: Amy T. Zielinski/Redferns

Grave goods

13 October 2016 2:00 pm

There’s a folder in my computer’s external hard drive in which you’ll find 24 complete recordings of the Bach Cello…

Ways out of recovery

20 August 2016 9:00 am

Perhaps because so many of them are former drunks and junkies, ‘addiction experts’ are touchy people. Often they don’t like…

Mass murder

30 July 2016 9:00 am

On Tuesday morning, an 85-year-old man was forced to his knees while his throat was slit by Islamic fanatics. The…