What’s Left to Do In January, Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe realized he’d been overdoing it. In February, he had a health scare—a false alarm, but one that nonetheless prompted him to book time off and reevaluate his w...

What's left to do? A monster profile from me on a most interesting musican, Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe, for the mighty @vanmusicmag.bsky.social van-magazine.com/mag/sean-shi...

It’s not easy if you’re outside London. But the British Library has them all

>> @kenearly.bsky.social on the @secondcaptains.bsky.social footy pod. 10/10, Ken

No better description of Enzo Maresca than the one from an Irish sports journo (can’t remember who): he looks like a loyalist mural of Pep Guardiola

I feel frustrated by nearly every aspect of the BBC chaos, but this really appeals to my sense of humour

David Grossman's move from Newsnight reporter to internal BBC police makes for quite the cameo in this sorry saga

Really sorry to hear about the death of the conductor Neville Dilkes. Excellent musician and man. Helped me out on a doc for Radio 3 after I cold-called him in France. Couldn’t have been more kind. He’d just turned 90 and had got the “good stuff” out to celebrate. RIP

Bernardino Molinari’s Fifth Season Plus: How did a conductor with links to Mussolini end up as de facto music director of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra?

The strangest of stories. New from me @vanmusicmag.bsky.social van-magazine.com/mag/molinari...

It's a new VAN day 💌

🌀 Phil Hebblethwaite on musical forgeries
🌀 The extraordinary letters of Pau Casals
🌀 BarTálk, VAN's new review segment
🌀 Elaine Mitchener on Julius Eastman

All this, plus Notes from All Over in our newsletter — come join us ❣️

van-magazine.com/mag/music-fo...

Between Beauty and Lies Frederick Reece, author of the forthcoming book "Forgery in Musical Composition," speaks to Phil Hebblethwaite about historic cases of copying, plagiarism and fakery.

There's a brilliant book on forgeries in classical music being published in June. I interviewed its author, Frederick Reece, for my fave mag, @vanmusicmag.bsky.social van-magazine.com/mag/music-fo...

The fascist afterlife of The Four Seasons Vivaldi’s masterwork, forgotten after his death, found new popularity when it was co-opted by Italian nationalists.

Some really weird shit came out of researching the Vivaldi revival in the 20th century for last week's Radio 3 Essay series. For @newstatesman.com, here's how The Four Seasons got intertwined with Italian fascist politics after WWI www.newstatesman.com/culture/musi...

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Vivaldi - A Man for All Seasons Phil Hebblethwaite uncovers how a lost composer returned to fame.

Tonight! And every night this week at 9.45pm. New Radio 3 Essay series from me. Vivaldi almost completely vanished from music history when he died in 1741. This is the nutty story of his unexpected resurrection in the 20th century www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

In search of Jutta Hipp In 1979, a musician put out a call in a magazine. Did anyone know where the German jazz pianist of the 1950s had gone?

A re-up for this @newstatesman.com piece seeing as today marks 100 years since the German jazz pianist Jutta Hipp was born. She tasted fame, and then vanished. Here's what happened: www.newstatesman.com/culture/musi...

In search of Jutta Hipp In 1979, a musician put out a call in a magazine. Did anyone know where the German jazz pianist of the 1950s had gone?

The German jazz pianist Jutta Hipp was born 100 years ago on February 4. She signed to Blue Note in the early 50s, then moved to New York. In 1960, she disappeared. What happened? New from me for @newstatesman.com www.newstatesman.com/culture/musi...

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ bitter symphony The composer’s exhilarating Sinfonia antartica was met with a mixed response on premiere – and still sits oddly in his oeuvre.

A piece of sycophancy celebrating a British hero or a musical depiction of the worst in British arrogance and folly? Me on Ralph Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia antartica for the new issue of @newstatesman.com www.newstatesman.com/culture/musi...

Civilisation should never be forgiven for not giving him the cash to make a film for the last 19 years of his life. What the hell

Werd to my fellow nerds: this is a great record shop. Thought they’d closed down but they’ve just re-opened in a new spot, opposite Highgate tube www.riseaboverecordsandrelics.com/l

Berlioz’s Christmas hit The composer was not religious but saw his L’enfance du Christ as a deeply human story – and audiences deemed it a triumph.

Berlioz thought he was cooked, but then he had an unexpected hit with a piece of Christmas music. His response: of course you like it, because you're a halfwit. New one from me @newstatesman.com www.newstatesman.com/culture/musi...

Happy Birthday, Andrew

Berlioz trying to get past line four in a piece of writing is very relatable

Concerto in G major BWV 980 (after Vivaldi) : II. Largo YouTube video by Johann Sebastian Bach - Topic

A pretty niche bit of Bach, but very minimalist and future-sounding. He transcribed a load of violin works by other composers for keyboard. Here's the largo from a Vivaldi concerto played on harpsichord by János Sebestyén. I score it 5/5 www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fih...

Hindsight 2024 The Page only can edit in LayoutHub Editor

Not sure World of Echo, the London record shop, is on here yet. So, a PSA: their weekly newsletter is full of incredible recs. And here is their look back at the year: worldofechomusic.com/pages/hindsi...

Unboxing latest album. 😂
A Flat City, Son Of Dave
Easy to get on #bandcamp
#vinyl #cd #newmusic #sonofdave

Rosemary Brown. I almost included her in the series, but the story didn't sit well with the others. Two things always intrigued me about that case - Leonard Bernstein thought she was legit and Julian Lloyd-Webber once said he’d had “shooting pains in his fingers” cured by Brown

What are you Haydn? The hoaxers who fooled the classical music world One wrote six sonatas and claimed they were by Haydn. Another used a ghostwriter to write his symphony – and pretended to be deaf. So how did they manage to hoodwink the experts?

From a couple of days ago: What are you Haydn? A spin-off feature from a series I did for Radio 3 on musical hoaxes, which have an uncanny ability to ask the most pertinent questions and how and why we believe in things... www.theguardian.com/music/2024/n...

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Classical Deceptions Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.

Love a good musical hoax, so I made a series about them for Radio 3. Starts next Monday evening… www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...