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.
A study of Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas, Opp 109, 110 and 111
A review of Patrick Carnegy’s book Wagner’s Theatre: In Search of a Legacy.
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.
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.
An essay on the comparative merits of Brahms’s two piano concertos – both masterpieces.
A view of Nigel McGilchrist’s book on Pythagoras, “When the Dog speaks, the Philosopher listens”
An analysis of three possible approaches to Wagner’s final and most enigmatic opera, Parsifal.
An evocation of the churches and villages of Transylvania.
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.
A review of Thomas Grant’s biography of part of the life of advocate Sir Sydney Kentridge KC.
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.
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.
An introduction to the life, writing and wit of Sir Ronald Storrs
A series of miscellaneous observations around a deep question: why should we listen to music?
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.
An exploration of the success or otherwise of Franz Liszt as a composer of religious music.
A review of a new adaptation of Dante’s Commedia by poet Ned Denny.
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.
An exploration of the modernity and existential terror in the late music of Schubert.
An appreciation of a quintessentially English enterprise – Ronald Storrs’ introduction to and collection of the many translations of a celebrated Ode of Horace.
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.
A consideration of the merits of Shostakovich as a composer.
A comparative study of two Mozart piano concertos in E flat, K271 and K482.
An examination of the arguments for and against the presence of anti-Semitism in Wagner’s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Thoughts on Islam, Sufism and Indian PM Narendra Modi, in the light of a visit to a music festival at Nagaur in Rajasthan.
An exploration of the relationship between music and emotion: whether it can truly be said that the former expresses the latter.
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.
An appreciation of Schoenberg’s string sextet Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night).
A critique of a little-known masterpiece by Schumann, his oratorio Scenes from Goethe’s Faust.
A discussion about which of the alternative finales of Beethoven’s late quartet in B flat should be played in performance.
A review of Thomas Grant’s book Court Number One: The Old Bailey Trials that Defined Modern Britain.
A review of Mark Le Fanu’s book Believing in Film: Christianity and Classic European Cinema.
An answer to a hostile review by Damien Thomson of a Bach recital by András Schiff at the Wigmore Hall
An essay on the tricky business of writing about music.
An appreciation of Miklos Banffy’s Transylvanian Trilogy, a true case of a neglected masterpiece.
An essay in praise of cricket, nostalgia and a poem by Francis Thompson
In praise of the chansons of Reynaldo Hahn, a composer whose perfect word settings and enchanted melodies should be more widely known.
A considered attempt to answer the question whether a modern rational sceptic can plausibly believe in God and pursue the Christian faith.
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.
An analysis of Beethoven’s largest and most formidable piano sonata, Op 106, the so-called ‘Hammerklavier’.
A short review of a 2018 exhibition of Dürer’s paintings in Milan: Dürer e il Rinascimento tra Germania e Italia
A review of the 2018 revival of the Ring cycle originally directed by Willy Decker in 2001 and performed at the Semperoper in Dresden.
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?”)
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.
A guide to twelve less well-known masterpieces among Schubert’s six hundred Lieder.
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.
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.
A comparison of the final symphonies of Brucker and Mahler.
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.
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 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.
