A heavyweight Odyssey
20251121November 2025, The Critic
A review of Robin Holloway’s book “Music’s Odyssey: An Invitation to Western Classical Music”
The follies of directors: Shakespeare, Wagner and the Glyndebourne ‘Parsifal’
20250616June 2025, TheArticle
An expression of regret in essay form for the conceit of many theatre and opera directors in imposing on the paying public their own versions of timeless masterpieces, provoked by the 2025 Glyndebourne Parsifal.
Beethoven’s towering triptych
20250616June 2025, New Criterion
A study of Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas, Opp 109, 110 and 111
Wagner: the long and short of it
20240819August 2024, The Critic
A review of Patrick Carnegy’s book Wagner’s Theatre: In Search of a Legacy.
The heart of fugue
20240502May 2024, New Criterion
An exploration of fugue in the music of Bach and others, culminating in a discussion of the composer’s final word on the subject, The Art of Fugue.
The role of evidence in faith
20231022October 2023, TheArticle
An essay based on a sermon delivered in Norwich cathedral in October 2023. The subject was the part, if any, played by evidence in faith.
Brahms: sublime genius on a major scale
20230616June 2023, The Critic
An essay on the comparative merits of Brahms’s two piano concertos – both masterpieces.
Pythagoras triangulated
20230607June 2023, New Criterion
A view of Nigel McGilchrist’s book on Pythagoras, “When the Dog speaks, the Philosopher listens”
What is Wagner’s Parsifal about?
20230508May 2023, TheArticle
An analysis of three possible approaches to Wagner’s final and most enigmatic opera, Parsifal.
Romanian romance: returning life to empty churches and villages
20230313March 2023, Catholic Herald
An evocation of the churches and villages of Transylvania.
The last colony
2022083131 August 2022, The Telegraph
A review of Philippe Sands’ book, The Last Colony, a treatment of the recent relationship between the United Kingdom and the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
Why anti-apartheid hero Sydney Kentridge was the finest advocate of his generation
2022071717 July 2022, The Telegraph
A review of Thomas Grant’s biography of part of the life of advocate Sir Sydney Kentridge KC.
The sound of love
20220501May 2022, The Critic
A celebration of Schumann’s extraordinary success in conveying how it feels to be in love, and a discussion of his most extended essay in the genre, the Fantasie Op 17.
Things about things: Iain McGilchrist
20220207February 2022, New Criterion, The Spectator
Two reviews of a book of the first importance: The Matter with Things by Iain McGilchrist; a short one for The Spectator, and a long one for The New Criterion. The third piece is my address to a seminar in Oxford on the theme of McGilchrist’s writings, attended by the author; it is entitled The Authenticity of the Inarticulate.
Delight in Storrs
20220201February 2022, New Criterion
An introduction to the life, writing and wit of Sir Ronald Storrs
Why listen to music?
20220122January 2022, TheArticle
A series of miscellaneous observations around a deep question: why should we listen to music?
Faith, doubt and the pandemic
20211022October 2021, TheArticle
A sermon preached in Pentridge parish church, my Dorset local, as Covid was receding. It was an attempt to explain the Church of England’s feeble performance during the pandemic, and to speak up for a moderate faith such as might be practised by the Devout Sceptic.
Ever so slightly off-key
20211014October 2021, Catholic Herald
An exploration of the success or otherwise of Franz Liszt as a composer of religious music.
Denny’s divine inspiration
20210805August 2021, Catholic Herald
A review of a new adaptation of Dante’s Commedia by poet Ned Denny.
Schopenhauer’s rainbow
20210501May 2021, Standpoint
An introduction to Schopenhauer’s thought, his metaphysical system and an explanation of the reasons why he accorded such importance to our appreciation of the arts.
A lost paradise of purity
20201231December 2020, Standpoint
An exploration of the modernity and existential terror in the late music of Schubert.
More lasting than bronze
20201201December 2020, New Criterion
An appreciation of a quintessentially English enterprise – Ronald Storrs’ introduction to and collection of the many translations of a celebrated Ode of Horace.
Acts of remembrance
20200830August 2020, Standpoint
A meditation on Bach’s Funeral Cantata written to mark the death of the wife of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, together with an appreciation of the life of Robert Avery.
The problem of Shostakovich
20200710July 2020, Standpoint
A consideration of the merits of Shostakovich as a composer.
Mozart’s infinite riches
20200626June 2020, Standpoint
A comparative study of two Mozart piano concertos in E flat, K271 and K482.
Meistersinger rehabilitated
20200530May 2020, Standpoint
An examination of the arguments for and against the presence of anti-Semitism in Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Islamophilia and the devout sceptic
20200426April 2020, Standpoint
Thoughts on Islam, Sufism and Indian PM Narendra Modi, in the light of a visit to a music festival at Nagaur in Rajasthan.
Notes on sounds and tones
20200326March 2020, Standpoint
An exploration of the relationship between music and emotion: whether it can truly be said that the former expresses the latter.
The last voyage of the Brillante Virtuoso
20200307March 2020, The Guardian
The stranger-than-fiction tale of the last voyage of the Greek-owned tanker Brillante Virtuoso, set on fire by Somali pirates off the Yemen in 2011 – or so the shipowner and crew claimed. In fact, the English High Court decided at a trial held in 2019 that the whole thing had been staged by the shipowner, who was found to have destroyed his own ship in an attempted fraud on the London insurance market.
A marriage of Brahms and Wagner
20200226February 2020, Standpoint
An appreciation of Schoenberg’s string sextet Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night).
A glimpse of heaven
20191211December 2019, Standpoint
A critique of a little-known masterpiece by Schumann, his oratorio Scenes from Goethe’s Faust.
Quandary for a quartet
20191111November 2019, Standpoint
A discussion about which of the alternative finales of Beethoven’s late quartet in B flat should be played in performance.
A reckoning for justice
20190910September 2019, Standpoint
A review of Thomas Grant’s book Court Number One: The Old Bailey Trials that Defined Modern Britain.
Only the movies have kept the faith
20190610June 2019, Standpoint
A review of Mark Le Fanu’s book Believing in Film: Christianity and Classic European Cinema.
Bach, Brexit and Schiff
20190522May 2019, TheArticle
An answer to a hostile review by Damien Thomson of a Bach recital by András Schiff at the Wigmore Hall
Describing the indescribable
20190410April 2019, Standpoint
An essay on the tricky business of writing about music.
Hungary’s Tolstoy
20190201February 2019, Standpoint
An appreciation of Miklos Banffy’s Transylvanian Trilogy, a true case of a neglected masterpiece.
A brief light on a field full of shades
20181201December 2018, Standpoint
An essay in praise of cricket, nostalgia and a poem by Francis Thompson
Third-rater of the first rate
20181001October 2018, Standpoint
In praise of the chansons of Reynaldo Hahn, a composer whose perfect word settings and enchanted melodies should be more widely known.
The Devout Sceptic: a creed for those of little faith
20180901September 2018, Standpoint
A considered attempt to answer the question whether a modern rational sceptic can plausibly believe in God and pursue the Christian faith.
Poles apart, linked by one instrument
20180701July 2018, Standpoint
A review of Paul Kildea’s book Chopin’s Piano: A Journey Through Romanticism, which tells the tale of a piano once owned by Chopin and subsequently belonging to harpsichordist Wanda Landowska.
Musical mountain obscured by cloud
20180501May 2018, Standpoint
An analysis of Beethoven’s largest and most formidable piano sonata, Op 106, the so-called ‘Hammerklavier’.
Dürer’s diversion
20180401April 2018, Standpoint
A short review of a 2018 exhibition of Dürer’s paintings in Milan: Dürer e il Rinascimento tra Germania e Italia
Was Wagner a feminist?
20180301March 2018, Standpoint
A review of the 2018 revival of the Ring cycle originally directed by Willy Decker in 2001 and performed at the Semperoper in Dresden.
Will the genius of the common law survive?
20180201February 2018, Standpoint
A review of the state of the common law, i.e. judge-made law – the glory of the English legal system – in the light of threats posed to it by the growth of Parliamentary legislation, EU law (a concern even after the Brexit referendum) and problems faced by judges (explored in an earlier essay, “Who will do Justice to our Judiciary?”)
The heights of Joseph Haydn
2017112727 November 2017, Standpoint
An essay in praise of Joseph Haydn, for too long regarded as Mozart’s inferior, and of his ground-breaking string quartets Op 20 in particular.
Enchanted garden of song
20171101November 2017, Standpoint
A guide to twelve less well-known masterpieces among Schubert’s six hundred Lieder.
Cornish master class in the art of the sublime
20171001October 2017, Standpoint
An essay originally published in Standpoint in September 2017: it is an appreciation of IMS Prussia Cove, the chamber music seminar which has taken place in Cornwall every year since 1972. This is a revised version, printed in the programme for the 50th anniversary celebrations at the Wigmore Hall in November 2022.
The Play’s the Thing, so leave the words alone
20170901September 2017, Standpoint
An article criticising the tendency of modern theatre directors to disregard at will the text of classical dramas – especially Shakespeare – and urging a more respectful attitude to the original creations of great playwrights. The contrast is drawn with the reverence for authenticity with which classical musicians approach the scores of canonical works.
Contemplating the abyss
20170801August 2017, Standpoint
A comparison of the final symphonies of Brucker and Mahler.
Who will do justice to our judiciary?
20161201December 2016, Standpoint
An essay written in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, considering the state of health and morale of the English judiciary, the effect of the constitutional changes made by the Blair Government in 2005, and the reasons why it is becoming ever harder to persuade the best candidates to become judges.
His master’s voice: Scruton on Wagner
20160901September 2016, Standpoint
Roger Scruton wrote three books on Wagner’s music dramas: one on Tristan and Isolde, one on The Ring cycle, and one on Parsifal. The last of these was his final book and is the subject of a separate essay below. The present essay is a review of The Ring of Truth which was published in 2016.
A companion for life
201512055 December 2015, The Spectator
A review of Graham Johnson’s definitive three-volume encyclopaedia on Schubert Lieder, embracing the culture of the German-speaking world at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.
