I’ve come across a number of pieces recently about what is described as the Philistinism of the British political and media class. Writing in today’s Guardian, Martin Kettle describes how Angela Merkel made a public appearance at the Bayreuth Festival for the new production of Wagner’s Ring, and how such an event would, he argues, […]
Category Archives: Classical Music
I don’t think any of the English language media have picked up on the extraordinary story of Melania E, the Romanian refugee who took part in the recent production of Mozart’s Zaide by Peter Sellars at the Aix-en-Provence festival. The story was published in Le Monde. For the benefit of those who don’t read French, […]
I’ve only just picked up on a couple of news stories on educational matters First, this from the Independent on the real cost of grammar schools. It indicates that when the Government recently named and shamed what it described as “failing schools”, local education authorities that have stuck with selection have contributed disproportionately to the […]
The BBC has taken a lot of flack over the way this contest has been run, and rightly so. Former Radio 3 presenter Tommy Pearson has said everything that needs to be said in his blog, and the outrage of the musical public can be found expressed both on Radio 3’s official messageboards (whose link […]
Well, I said at the outset that this was a blog about culture as well as politics, and music is what I care about most and know about best. And, like quite a lot of people, I’ve been having some gloomy thoughts following the atrocious debacle of the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year 2008. […]
Notes from a Broken Society 