Interesting post by Jeremy Denk on movie monsters and classical music: Both Lecter and Cullen traffic in blood, and their bloodiest scenes bleed classical music. Yes, we can say, the director is suggesting that classical music is “beauty” against...

Mmm … THURSDAY 7th JANUARY 2010 7.30pm, £7 /£6 John Butcher (saxophones) John Edwards (double bass) Christine Sehnaoui (saxophone) Olivier Toulemonde (amplified objects) Mathias Forge (trombone) Angharad Davies (violin) Lina Lapelyte (violin...

My review of Liza Lim’s The Navigator, in concert performance at the Bastille Opera is now available on MusicalCriticism.com: Liza Lim’s third opera, The Navigator, is not short of ideas. Its inspirations begin in ancient Greek myth, the Mahabharata...

Writing style guides will tell you not to hedge. The argument, broadly true, runs that uncertainty and ambivalence make for writing that is stylistically weak. As a music writer, however – an ‘aural journalist’, even – what one is writing about...

In the middle of writing a review of Liza Lim’s The Navigator, I’ve been obsessively watching and becoming increasingly awestruck by this video of Deborah Kayser’s performance as The Angel of History. It seems only fair to share: Many of the voice...