Music
My desert island poet
If I had to be marooned on a desert island with a stranger, that stranger would be John Burnside. Not…
The wit, wisdom and womanising of Constant Lambert
Philip Hensher on the tragically short life of the ebullient and multi-talented musician, Constant Lambert
Tim Rice’s diary: From Eternity to here
Last October, in these very pages, I wrote with what is now annoying prescience, ‘Like almost everyone else in the…
The church of self-worship: Sunday morning with the atheists
Sunday morning among the atheists
A girl, a train and a miniature pistol: how I met the Everly Brothers
I had five decades of delight with the Everly Brothers – and it all began on the Flying Scotsman
Shostakovich, Leningrad, and the greatest story ever played
The horrors of the Leningrad siege — the 900 Days of Harrison Salisbury’s classic — have been pretty well picked…
The food of love
The Albek Duo are two astonishingly beautiful and talented Venetian musicians, Fiona and Ambra, who are identical twins. Hearing the…
Did Leonard Bernstein do too much to be a great artist?
Nigel Simeone’s title for his edition of Leonard Bernstein’s correspondence rings compellingly, novellistically, through the force of the definite article,…
'If I can barely speak, then I shall surely sing'
A few weeks ago, I was wandering with a friend around West London when our conversation turned to the reliable…
Roger Scruton’s diary: Finding Scrutopia in the Czech Republic
Hay-making was easy this year, and over in good time for a holiday. I am opposed to holidays, having worked…
