Furtwängler
The best recordings of the greatest symphony
I am daunted. Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony is a work that I regard with love, awe and even anxiety. I always…
The morality of conducting
Now he is the greatest figure for me, in the world. [Toscanini is] the last proud, noble, unbending representative (with…
Gustav Mahler
When I began listening to music seriously, in about 1950, I had read about Mahler but wasn’t able to hear…
Royal Opera’s Tannhäuser is one of the ugliest stagings I have set eyes on
Cursed, or perhaps blessed, with almost no visual memory at all, I had almost completely forgotten what the Royal Opera’s…
What really happened in the Berlin Philharmonic election
The morning after the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra failed to elect a music director, I took a call from Bild-Zeitung, Berlin’s…
Why Daniel Barenboim should be the next head of the Berlin Phil
Daniel Barenboim is back in town: the South Bank is mounting a ‘Barenboim Project 2015’ in which he’s playing the…
The audio anoraks bringing the great vintage recordings back to life
Damian Thompson on the audio anoraks rescuing some of the greatest recordings ever made
In the mood for Parsifal, my Passiontide fare
This week, I have been mostly listening to Parsifal. Not the St Matthew Passion, which is my usual Passiontide fare.…
