Benjamin Britten
Musical Testosterone at the Proms
William Walton was inspired by sexual energy
Battling with Britten
The reputation of one of England’s finest composers has been indelibly stained by his refusal to fight in the Second World War
Privileged Outsider
The cult of Benjamin Britten lives on in Paul Kildea’s new biography, painting the composer as a perennial victim
Glorious Legacy Of A Crabby Loner
Benjamin Britten’s gifts to British music, both as practitioner and patron, far outweigh his faults
Reach For the Sky
While woeful arts coverage on ITV and the BBC looks beyond saving, the two Sky Arts channels offer brave, and often unpredictable, film-making
National Anthems
For too long British classical music has gone unheard. Thankfully, what was once deemed a “guilty pleasure” is now getting regular airtime
Turn of the Turn
It’s hard to imagine The Turn of the Screw more perfectly performed than in ENO’s staging by David McVicar, which opened at the Coliseum last night. Were I rating it I’d give it six stars out of five.
The Apostle of Aldeburgh
Benjamin Britten’s festival proves that in music small is beautiful
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal