Times Literary Supplement (September 18, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Autumn Fiction’ – Rachel Kushner, Olga Tokarczuk, László Krasznahorkai and Sally Rooney; Craig Brown on The Queen; A very Yorkshire horror; China’s Britain complex and The Looting of America…
Tag Archives: Music
Arts & Culture: The New Criterion -October 2024

The New Criterion – The October 2024 issue features…
Democracy in America: a symposium
Tocqueville’s limitations by Glenn Ellmers
Democracy in America: an introduction by Roger Kimball
Our Athenian American democracy by Victor Davis Hanson
Tocqueville versus progressive democracy by Daniel J. Mahoney
The Washington octopus by James Piereson
Music: Selmer Saxophones History & Craftsmanship
Insider Business (September 6, 2024) – Henri Selmer Saxophones was founded in Paris in 1885. Today, the company is synonymous with high-end saxophones. The most popular saxophone it sells, the Series II alto, starts at about $7,000, but a Selmer can cost you as much as $30,000, depending on the customization and finishes like gold plating.
John Coltrane, one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time, used Selmer saxophones in his performances. He recorded his magnum opus, “A Love Supreme,” on a Mark VI. One of his Mark VI tenor saxophones is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Musicians are willing to pay for a Selmer for a variety of reasons: the familiar sound, the history behind the brand, the craftsmanship and attention to detail, and the playability.
Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Sept. 6, 2024
Times Literary Supplement (September 4, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Sinister Beauty’ – Baudelaire and Les Fleurs du Mal; Hitler’s accomplices; No exit in Israel and Palestine; Posing for Lucian Freud and David Peace’s Munich…
Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Aug 23, 2024

Times Literary Supplement (August 21, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Angels at her table’ – C.K. Stead and Kirsty Gunn on Janet Frame’s singular voice; Pat Barker and Mark Haddon’s modern myths; Rethinking incarceration; How art comes about; Sleep science; Hypochondria and literary reputations….
Arts & Culture: The New Criterion – Sept 2024
The New Criterion – The September 2024 issue features ‘The red star returns’; The trouble with Delmore; Churchill endures; Charles Ive’s “let out” souls; Theater, Arts, Music and The Media….
Arresting scenes
On John Constable’s The Hay Wain & the foundations of the West.
We write as The New Criterion’s annual period of aestivation enters its home stretch. The cicadas are buzzing, the days are noticeably shorter, and the leaves—some of them—are already edged with brown. Certain summers feature quiet expanses of lazy days. This one was different. In July, Donald Trump, except for the tip of his right ear, dodged a would-be assassin’s bullet; Joe Biden dropped (or, we now know, was pushed) out of the 2024 presidential race but, as of this writing, remains president; Kamala Harris, Biden’s vice president, stepped into the vacancy and magically became the new candidate for president, choosing the Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Aug 16, 2024

Times Literary Supplement (August 14, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Guy vs the Spies’ – Robert Cecil’s secret intelligence network; The new Cold War; On annihilation; What anxiety means; G.K. Chesterton’s Notting Hill…
Classical: Violinist Mari Samuelsen Plays Dessner
Deutsche Grammophon – DG (August 9, 2024):
‘To me, Song for Octave welcomes you into a different world. A dreamland in slow motion. I imagine being a child and walking in a glass house for the very first time, watching the rays of sunshine coming through the leaves of a big tree. It’s a quiet and peaceful conversation between light and shadow. (Pure and beautiful).‘
Rich in contemporary colour and contrast, LIFE – Mari Samuelsen’s third album for Deutsche Grammophon – is inspired by her experience of becoming a mother. Known for her vibrant and imaginative programming as well as her passionate and virtuosic playing, the Norwegian violinist has created a kaleidoscopic musical reflection of some of the emotional discoveries that come with parenthood.
The album presents music by Olivia Belli, Bryce Dessner, Ludovico Einaudi, Nils Frahm, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Mário Laginha, Hania Rani, Max Richter and Steve Reich, with a dash of Schubert also thrown into the mix. Samuelsen was joined at Teldex Studios in Berlin last autumn by a small group of fellow musicians, including the string players of Scoring Berlin, conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer. LIFE comes out digitally and on vinyl on 23 August 2024.
Find out more about Mari Samuelsen here: Instagram: / samuelsenofficial Facebook: / marisamuelsenofficial X: / samuelsofficial Website: https://marisamuelsen.com/
Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Aug 9, 2024
Times Literary Supplement (August 7, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Paper Dreams’ – Dinah Birch on William Morris’s contradictions; Cancelled left and right; Downfall of the West; Sly old Chaucer; Beowulf, hero of the Northern World….
Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – July 26, 2024
Times Literary Supplement (July 24, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Generation Anxious’ – Jonathan Haidt’s bleak vision of modern childhood; Rebuilding broken Britain; The woman who stalked the world; German Expressionism at Tate Modern and Twisters..