Two stories have fluttered across newspapers and auction catalogues, obviously related, but ignored by most of our cultural commentators. One is the spectacular hoard of art, formerly banned by the Nazis as ‘degenerate’,… Continue reading
Europe has already kicked off the centenary events surrounding the start of the First World War. Living in Britain, one sees one side of the conflict, but working and living in Vienna, one… Continue reading
More and more frequently since the publication of ‘Forbidden Music’, I have people asking me if I have heard of this or that composer. I have to confess that usually, I can admit… Continue reading
If, amongst the many composers banned by Hitler and subsequently shoved to one side following the Nazi defeat, there was one, who could guarantee immediate audience appeal today, it would have to be… Continue reading
An article from the Financial Times
It wasn’t planned, but there can hardly be a more appropriate work to remember the 75th anniversary of ‘Kristallnacht’ (in German: ‘Pogromnacht’), than Mahler’s IX symphony. I’m recording it at the moment in… Continue reading
This is a fascinating youtube mini-documentary about the Galimir Quartet. A lengthier, fascinating documentary in French was put together by George Zeisel of ProQuartet, a French organisation that promotes chamber music (sadly not… Continue reading
The latest quarterly Hanns Eisler newsletter deals with the thorny question of exactly how ‘Stalinist’ Eisler was. The day-to-day confrontations with the murderous Stalin regime were never met with any overt condemnation. Eisler… Continue reading
