Arts
The British modernist who was airbrushed from history
Elsewhere in British music in 1960: William Walton was writing his Symphony No 2, Benjamin Britten his opera on Midsummer…
In defence of Hindemith
There’s a photo of Paul Hindemith with the pianist Artur Schnabel on hands and knees, surrounded by model railway track.…
Peter Shaffer should be up there with the greats
Commercial success has a way of corroding critical regard. The more popular a playwright becomes, the more the critical establishment…
How Winston Churchill painted himself out of the darkness
At Chartwell, Sir Winston Churchill’s home of 42 years, now owned by the National Trust, lies his painting studio. Reached…
The performance of her career
It’s odd, isn’t it, the uncanny relationship between success and achievement. Just the other night the Melbourne Theatre Company had…
Students of theatrical history will adore David Hare’s Grace Pervades
Grace Pervades by David Hare is a drama-documentary about the life and theatrical work of the great Victorian thesp, Sir…
How to win MasterChef
‘Warmer, sharper and funnier than ever,’ claims one reviewer of ‘the BBC’s disgraced cookery show’ MasterChef. But this is nonsense.…
The art of noise
I’m bullish about AI. All aesthetic snobs should be. In the war on man-made slop – still the most pressing…
Compelling: Cowboy Junkies at Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, reviewed
Anyone who was listening to independent music back in the 1980s and 1990s might find it surprising to learn which…
Riveting: Kokuho reviewed
A three-hour Japanese epic about a classical performance art (kabuki) isn’t the easiest sell, I’ll grant you, but I’ll give…
A spring mood lifter: Tales of Love and Loss at the Linbury Theatre reviewed
This year’s Jette Parker Artists showcase is a triple bill of modern-ish operas; a cleverly assembled trittico of one-acters, linked…
How to dress a queen
The problem with exhibiting costumes is well known. Should the mannequins be lifelike with human features, or faceless? What about…
The art of flowers
Multi-sensory exhibitions are old hat, but in the case of In Bloom – How Plants Changed Our World at Oxford’s…
Skill of the characterisation
Yasmina Reza is one of the most dazzling playwrights alive because she creates sweepingly funny bits of theatre (masterfully translated…
What have they done to The Devil Wears Prada?
The Devil Wears Prada (2006) is one of those films which, if chanced upon when flicking television channels, I will…
In a fairer world, The Cage would receive a lot more attention than Half Man
Half Man, Richard Gadd’s follow-up to the all-conquering Baby Reindeer, began with approximately ten seconds of some people at a…
The magic ears of Hyperion
How do we evaluate Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series, which over a period of 35 years recorded more than 200…
Big Thief is this generation’s R.E.M.
By the time Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief was born in 1991, Kim Gordon had already released seven albums with…
Why actors love to play lunatics
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, adapted from Ken Kesey’s book by Dale Wasserman, is exactly like the movie but…
Is this the missing link between Bach and Haydn?
Grade: B ‘Is that Haydn or Mozart? One can’t always be sure,’ remarks Kenneth Clark in the 18th-century episode of…
The weakness of the V&A East Museum
I’d just emerged from Stratford station when I realised it had been almost a decade to the day since I’d…
How good is Wayne McGregor?
‘Professor Sir Wayne McGregor CBE’ runs the headline to a biographical essay in the programme for the Royal Ballet’s triple…
The dirty secrets of the Royal Festival Hall
The Festival of Britain – that much mythologised moment of national renewal – is wheeled out every time the country…
Scrupulous fidelity
Isn’t it fascinating how much we adapt works of literature? 150 years ago someone would have had a fair chance…
The genius of Zurbaran – and why he vanished
A pious Caravaggio JASPREET SINGH BOPARAI The Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbaran is sometimes thought of as a pious equivalent…
