Music
Russians Hit a Wrong Note
Soviet musicians had no freedom but great prestige. Now the danger is corruption and greed
Lift Up Your Hearts and Sing
Choirs have sprung up everywhere as we begin to understand the healing power of the voice
Judging Jacko
‘Michael Jackson was a study in shame. He was ashamed of being black, ashamed of being gay’
The Creatures of Papa Haydn
Long overshadowed by his pupil Mozart, the real father of Viennese classicism should be heard again
Fun in the Sun
‘Have you, like me, secretly felt in certain locales that you have been parachuted behind enemy lines?’
The Apostle of Aldeburgh
Benjamin Britten’s festival proves that in music small is beautiful
Hard to Swallow
When thinking about my voice, I’m more comfortable with metaphor than physiology
Vocal Heroes
Tenor: History of a Voice by John Potter
Mesmeric Modulations
Two 19th-century novels reveal contrasting attitudes to music and its place in Jewish culture
A Joy For Ever
Beauty by Roger Scruton
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal