Preface
One early morning in May 2019, I was sitting in Chambers preparing for that day’s court appearance when I was rung by András Schiff, a long-time friend whom I had originally met, decades earlier, at IMS Prussia Cove. Had I seen the review in the Spectator of his recent concert at the Wigmore Hall? Was it not outrageous? Would I like to respond to it – the sooner the better? I had no compunction in turning aside from the day job (in truth, not much effective preparation takes place in the final few hours before a court appearance, in my case at least) and knocking out 1000 words before it was time to go ‘over the road’ to the Royal Courts of Justice. My patron was once more Daniel Johnson, who had been such a sympathetic editor in his Standpoint days (that magazine was still going, but had entered into a prolonged death-spiral after his departure). He had recently become the editor of TheArticle, and he was characteristically accommodating. I make no claim for the quality of this piece, but it is certainly the quickest-written essay on this website.