This has been a great year for classical music and I've found it really hard to select only 5 releases. Many of my favourite...

Roma is a semi-autobiographical film where we witness a series of scenes inspired by the director's upbringing in 70s Mexico. Presented in nostalgic black-and-white...

Title: A Star is BornDirector: Bradley CooperRelease: 2018This is exemplary Hollywood. A true love story without any clichés despite its numerous remakes (this is...

Τitle: Bohemian RhapsodyDirector: Bryan SingerReleased: 2018When you hear that a biopic of the rock music band Queen and Freddie Mercury is going to be...

Title: The Naked WomanAuthor: Armonía Somers Published: 2018, Feminist Press (translated by Kit Maude)Armonia Somer’s novel was a bit of a shock when it was...

Philip Glass, Symphony 11Bruckner Orchester LinzDennis Russell Davies (conductor)Orange Mountain MusicPhilip Glass, the non-minimalist composerIn my review for the Ólafsson album of the Philip...

Music Reviews:Philip Glass, Piano Works (selection) Víkingur Ólafsson (pianist) Deutsche GrammophonBach, Solo Piano Works (selection) Víkingur Ólafsson (pianist) Deutsche Grammophon  Philip Glass I have listened to a lot of different recordings of the...

Book Review:Title: The Taiga Syndrome Author: Cristina Rivera Garza Published: Dorothy, a publishing project (October 2018)The fairy tale imagery is apparent from the very beginning. But this...

Review: Mahler, Symphony 6 "Tragic" MusicAeterna Teodor Currentzis (conductor) Sony ClassicalThis is not just another Mahler 6th. And this is no easy thing to say considering that the competition...

Rachmaninov, Piano Concertos 2 & 4 Daniil Trifonov (piano) The Philadelphia Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor) Deutsche Grammophon, October 2018 When a piece of music is among your favourite works of...

Is the Stenhammar 2nd symphony a great work? Listen to Lindberg’s account and you will realise that it is. And why shouldn’t it be?...

Author: Rachel Cusk Title: Kudos Published: 2018Rachel Cusk’s works are important pieces of literature, in fact so important that they are the kind of books that...

This is Brahms as it should be. Bold, grand, shamelessly romantic. Of course, Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin have given us first-rate symphony cycles...

First the good news: This Shostakovich album by Nelsons is better recorded than the previous releases in this set (symphonies 5, 8, 9 and...

Title: Heredirary Director: Ari Aster Release date: 2018So much has already been written about Hereditary: for some, it’s the new Exorcist, for others it’s a combination...

Title: There There Author: Tommy Orange Published: Alfred A. Knopf, 2018This is Tommy Orange's debut novel and what a debut it is. What we have here is a...

One could argue that admiration and jealousy between friends have existed since the beginning of time, but the burst of social media has exacerbated...

"Bruckner's Eighth Symphony is the zenith of symphonic writing." — Sergiu Celibidache Is this the best symphony ever written? Quite possibly: even if it is...

It's no surprise that this disc is immediately accessible and a joy to listen to. Lindberg's own compositions have always been a rewarding experience,...

A lot has been written about this book. Its title is Asymmetry, and this applies to its structure, content and meaning. The first part...