Arts
Your best YouTube operatic experience ever
Anyone who frequents the internet will have come across YouTube and soon learned that what may have been planned as…
Can Lance Armstrong squirm? We don't know because The Armstrong Lie doesn't make him
Alex Gibney’s The Armstrong Lies is fascinating as far as it goes but it may not go as far as…
Sam Mendes's King Lear is a must-see for masochists
Directors appear to have two design options when approaching a Shakespeare tragedy. Woodstock or jackboot. Woodstock means papal robes, shoulder-length…
John Craxton was more gifted than the Fitzwilliam show suggests
It is often said of John Craxton (1922–2009) that he knew how to live well and considered this more important…
Jeremy Paxman's Great War is great. But is 2,500 hours of WW1 programming too much?
Why are we so fascinated by the first world war? As its 100th anniversary approaches, we’re already mired in arguments…
Radio 3 needs to stay relevant, and world music is just the ticket
When my colleague Charles Moore first began accusing Radio 3 of becoming ‘babyish’, and talking down to us as if…
All the fun of the fair
The Works on Paper annual fair runs from 6 to 9 February at the Science Museum. Its name is a…
All the fun of the fair
The Works on Paper annual fair runs from 6 to 9 February at the Science Museum. Its name is a…
All the fun of the fair
The Works on Paper annual fair runs from 6 to 9 February at the Science Museum. Its name is a…
Codes of conduct
Not long ago the great conductors of classical music were general practitioners. They expected to give satisfactory interpretations of music…
Codes of conduct
Not long ago the great conductors of classical music were general practitioners. They expected to give satisfactory interpretations of music…
Is Hollywood finally waking up to the talents of women? Nah
Is Hollywood finally waking up to the talents of women directors? Peter Hoskin doubts it
Leipzig and Dresden are both staging Elektra. Which city wins?
Yet more performances of Elektra, Richard Strauss’s setting of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s ramped-up, neurosis-riddled 1903 reworking of Sophocles, are unlikely…
Painting Now doesn't represent painting now. Thank goodness
The death of painting has been so often foretold — almost as frequently as its renaissance — that any such…
August: Osage County? Why not make your own?
If you and your family are bored — if, for example, it’s one of those dull Sunday afternoons that seem…
Goodbye, Claudio Abbado. You helped us glimpse eternity
Fellini’s credo ‘the visionary is the only true realist’ could also be applied to the life of Claudio Abbado, who…
If you can figure out the mind-boggling plot of Ciphers — join Mensa
Here’s a heartwarming tale from the London fringe. A company named Above the Stag was merrily plying its trade at…
Two women, ages 94 and 83, completely own The Archers
You might think the main storyline in The Archers is all about Helen’s affair with dastardly Rob. (What does she…
The Three Musketeers is a triumph - because, like Game of Thrones, no one is safe
‘Pshaw!’ That was my first reaction to news of the BBC’s new ten-part Sunday night adaptation of The Three Musketeers.…
Farewell, Claudio Abbado
Fellini’s credo ‘the visionary is the only true realist’ could also be applied to the life of Claudio Abbado, who…
Farewell, Claudio Abbado
Fellini’s credo ‘the visionary is the only true realist’ could also be applied to the life of Claudio Abbado, who…
The best thing to come out of Davos
William Cook visits the Kirchner Museum in Davos, the Alpine town where the German Expressionist found refuge and inspiration
I know how to cure my music addiction
About 30 years ago, not long before he died, my father bought an LP of Sir Clifford Curzon playing Schubert’s…
Alan Sorrell, oddly original and shamefully neglected (till now)
Rediscovering the unduly neglected is one of the chief excitements of those who curate exhibitions and write books. And there’s…
The play to watch if your country is breaking up
Of all the West End’s unloved venues the loveliest is the Arts Theatre. It specialises in creaky off-beat plays like…
