Pope Francis raises the white flag
Just before Ireland voted overwhelmingly to end the country’s constitutional ban on abortion, Catholics in the fishing village of Clogherhead…
Mozart died too late rather than too early. Discuss.
Glenn Gould used to say that Mozart died too late rather than too early. The remark was intended to get…
Remembering one of the best – and bitchiest – pianists who ever lived
I’m unlucky with Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata. Twice in the past year I’ve bolted for the exit as soon the pianist…
Momentum isn’t hard left. It’s a theatrical cult
Hard left, my arse. Sorry to be vulgar, but surely that’s how Jim Royle, couch-potato patriarch of that glorious sitcom…
Composer Nico Muhly on drugs, cults and James MacMillan
There’s a scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie in which Tippi Hedren is emptying a safe while a cleaning lady silently…
Cult classic
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
If two concert pianists are performing a work written for two grand pianos, there are two ways you can position…
Losing our religion
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
When you first encounter it, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis can sound like the Ninth Symphony with more singing but no tunes.…
Kissin in action
Is Evgeny Kissin, born in Moscow in 1971, the most famous concert pianist in the world? Probably not, if you…
Period drama
Harpsichordists are supposed to make love, not war: Sir Thomas Beecham famously compared the sound they make to ‘two skeletons…
Mission impossible?
Just before Peter Donohoe played the last of Alexander Scriabin’s ten piano sonatas at the Guildhall’s Milton Court on Sunday,…
All’s well that ends well
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
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
On the first Saturday in February, the people of Rome awoke to find the city covered in peculiar posters depicting…
Safe and sound
This week the Southbank Centre began its ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ festival — a series of concerts and talks claiming…
Safe and sound
This week the Southbank Centre began its ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ festival — a series of concerts and talks claiming…
Safe and sound
This week the Southbank Centre began its ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ festival — a series of concerts and talks claiming…
The trouble with Francis
On 2 January, the Vatican published a letter from Pope Francis to the world’s bishops in which he reminded them…
Brahms’s benders
‘Brahms and Liszt’ is a lovely bit of rhyming slang, but it doesn’t have the ring of authenticity. Can you…
Brahms’s benders
‘Brahms and Liszt’ is a lovely bit of rhyming slang, but it doesn’t have the ring of authenticity. Can you…
Brahms’s benders
‘Brahms and Liszt’ is a lovely bit of rhyming slang, but it doesn’t have the ring of authenticity. Can you…
Magnetic north
Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…
Magnetic north
Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…
Magnetic north
Years ago, when I met a famous concert pianist, I was surprised when he greeted me in a northern accent.…
