Music
An absolute earful
Singing sands, the dawn chorus and the crackle of the Northern Lights are among the many natural wonders explored in Caspar Henderson’s paean to the act of listening
Travels in Italy with the teenage Mozart
Jane Glover follows the rapturous Wolfgang around Venice, Bologna, Florence and Naples on three journeys that would change the young composer’s life
Should vintage comedy be judged by today’s standards?
A successful joke relies on rhythm, tempo, cadence, pause – so why does David Stubbs find comedy and music so antithetical, wonders Joel Morris
The changing face of the BBC Proms
The changing face of the BBC Proms
My verdict on Eurovision
I had the sudden suspicion, at about ten o’clock on Saturday night, that I was the only straight male in…
Evil geniuses
Does knowledge of the wrongs committed by Caravaggio, Picasso, Roman Polanski and other ‘monsters’ condition our response to their art, wonders Claire Dederer
Sam Smith and the embarrassing terribleness of LGBTQIA+ culture
Pop music – and specifically pop music stardom – has an incredible power to transform people into things they are…
Artistic achievements that changed the world
‘Astonish me!’ was the celebrated demand that the impresario Sergei Diaghilev made of Jean Cocteau when he was devising Erik…
Recollections of a Queen’s piper
Memories of a Queen’s piper
Harpo Marx – genius, idiot savant or lovable overgrown child?
It’s hard (if not impossible) to imagine a world worth living in that doesn’t include the Marx Brothers; and equally…
‘Jerusalem’ is a rousing anthem – but who knows what the words mean?
‘Jerusalem’ may be our unofficial national anthem, but don’t ask anyone who sings it to tell you what it means, says Philip Hensher
Jarvis Cocker measures out his life in attic junk
If you were hoping for an autobiography this isn’t it. Jarvis Cocker calls it ‘an inventory’ and insists: ‘This is…
Letters: Who’s responsible for Putin’s rise if not Russians?
Russian misrule Sir: Your editorial (‘Sanction Schroder’, 21 May) laments that western sanctions may be harming ordinary Russians, given that…
I’m a tourist in my own town
‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,’ groans a weary Al Pacino in The Godfather…
How I fell in love with the blues
I was never into the blues that much. I listened to a bit of Roy Buchanan and Rory Gallagher but…
What we learnt from Eurovision
Twice during the Eurovision Song Contest our television lost the signal and the set went blank – once, mercifully, during…
Ed Sheeran is right about British courts
As they say in the music business, where there’s a hit, there’s a writ. It is something that no one…
Bono's 'poem' was an insult to the craft of verse
‘Poet’, said Robert Frost, ‘is a praise-word’. So it is. That explains in part the unabashed delight with which Colm…
Enthralling and unusual – even if you don't care about Kanye: Netflix's Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy reviewed
The most disappointing pop performance I’ve ever seen – and in the course of my 15-odd years as a music…
When does ‘middle age’ end and ‘old age’ begin?
I was a bit irritated by all the millennials saying the Superbowl half-time show made them feel old. The 15-minute…
Playing until her fingers bled: the dedication of the pianist Maria Yudina
The 20th century was an amazing time for Russian pianists, and the worse things got, politically and militarily, the more…
The moment I fell in love with music
I’ve lived in Chelsea for the past 35 years. Since 2002, I’ve photographed everything I find interesting here — churches,…
What musicians like me learned from the pandemic
My mother died earlier this year aged 85. She left me her old pianola. These were popular in the 1920s…
Did the music industry enable R. Kelly?
As Harvey Weinstein was to film, so Robert ‘R.’ Kelly has been to the music industry. An energetic and profligate…