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Rankings & Roundups
(Almost) Every Piece by Darius Milhaud, Ranked
345 works from absolute turkeys to profound statements of faith
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Breaking
“All you had to do was go on Google”
When Frédéric Chaslin recommended a 21-year-old philosophy student for a job with Jeffrey Epstein, she decided to do her own research
Be My Valentine
Ten of the Best Composer Love Letters
At a loss for words this Valentine’s Day? Get some help from Ethel Smyth, John Cage, Leoš Janáček, and more
The Sex Lives of Women Composers, Ranked
An absolutely objective ranking in the name of gender equality
Two Siegmunds, Two Wälses
…and two singers whose four notes change the entire shape of the “Ring”
Ione
“It’s always a good time to explore what colonialism is.”
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Israel and Palestine
Selective Empathy
When the conductor Lahav Shani and the Munich Philharmonic were disinvited from a Belgian festival, the Germany classical music industry closed ranks
Solidarity When It Suits
Oliver Mears, Director of The Royal Opera, tried and failed to take down a Palestine flag on stage. Then came the distraction tactics, and the hypocrisy.
Crossing the Line
Conductor Ilan Volkov on his viral speech and recent arrest for Palestine
Overlooked French composers
Unfinished Cities
“La ville morte,” an opera by Nadia Boulanger and Raoul Pugno, at the Greek National Opera
Augusta Holmès’s Most Virile Works, Ranked
The thrusting tempos, pounding fortissimos, and many, many climaxes of the Romantic composer’s oeuvre
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Most Read
Emails Raise Questions About Conductor’s Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
Emails released on Friday appear to show Frédéric Chaslin in contact with the financier and sex offender
Optimistic Nihilism
Olga Neuwirth and Elfriede Jelinek’s “Monster’s Paradise,” reviewed at the bar
New in VAN
Bartók and Janáček At the End of Liberal Society
Totalitarian thinking and its antidote in two works from the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
The Rough Joy
The Orchestre Symphonique des Enfants de Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, in rehearsal and in concert
Listening to Classical Music in Recovery
A writer recalls the surprising works that helped him survive his addiction to alcohol
From ten years ago…
Last But Not Least
