European Chamber Orchestra/Harnoncourt/Urmana (Sony) This 1999 live recording captures the late conductor’s radical ear in bracing Mendelssohn, gossamer Wagner and a luminous Liebestod – from Violeta Urmana Ten years on from his death, this newly released live recording from the 1999 Styriarte festival in Graz is a welcome reminder of Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s revolutionary approach to music. At its ...
European Chamber Orchestra/Harnoncourt/Urmana (Sony) This 1999 live recording captures the late conductor’s radical ear in bracing Mendelssohn, gossamer Wagner and a luminous Liebestod – from Violeta Urmana Ten years on from his death, this newly released live recording from the 1999 Styriarte festival in Graz is a welcome reminder of Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s revolutionary approach to music. At its heart is a rare – for him – foray into the world of Richard Wagner, provocatively coupled with Mendelssohn and Schumann, two composers whose attitudes towards the Sorcerer of Bayreuth were equivocal, to say the least. He opens with Mendelssohn’s fairytale overture, Die Schöne Melusine, a bracing ride driven by resolute strings and dramatic interventions from the woodwind. The Tannhäuser Overture is quite a different matter. To a certain extent, Harnoncourt takes a Wagner-lite approach, with gossamer textures rooted in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, a comparison that the antisemitic Wagner would surely have loathed. Purists might balk, but it’s one of the silkiest and most detailed of readings, for those curious about the actual notes on the page, it’s illuminating. Continue reading...
Speaking at Milan fashion week, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons presented a more concentrated, but relatable, show Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the co-designers of Prada, said backstage at Milan fashion week that fashion’s greatest challenges were inequality and artificial intelligence. An interesting perspective, since Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire owner of Meta, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, sa...
Speaking at Milan fashion week, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons presented a more concentrated, but relatable, show Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the co-designers of Prada, said backstage at Milan fashion week that fashion’s greatest challenges were inequality and artificial intelligence. An interesting perspective, since Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire owner of Meta, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, sat next to Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s husband, in the front row. Continue reading...
Rachel Weisz becomes obsessed with a charming Leo Woodall in a dangerously sexy midlife crisis drama, while Guy Ritchie takes on Arthur Conan Doyle Rachel Weisz’s literature professor M is struggling with middle age and worried she may never be “the cause of a spontaneous erection” ever again. Worse still, her academic husband John (John Slattery) is not only still taking advantage of their marria...
Rachel Weisz becomes obsessed with a charming Leo Woodall in a dangerously sexy midlife crisis drama, while Guy Ritchie takes on Arthur Conan Doyle Rachel Weisz’s literature professor M is struggling with middle age and worried she may never be “the cause of a spontaneous erection” ever again. Worse still, her academic husband John (John Slattery) is not only still taking advantage of their marriage’s open status but losing his tenure as a result. Into this chaos comes Vladimir (Leo Woodall), a charming, married professor. Through him, M sees her past – sexy, young, sadly irretrievable – and she becomes dangerously obsessed. Vladimir is adapted from a novel by Julia May Jonas and its literary roots are obvious: fourth wall-breaking and fantasy sequences explore M’s internality. But it is a witty deconstruction of a midlife crisis. Netflix, from Thursday 4 March Continue reading...
EU’s longest-serving leader hopes to retain power by telling voters the main threat to country comes from Kyiv Paid for by its rightwing, populist government and generated using AI, the billboards – showing Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU officials with their hands outstretched – blanket Hungary. “Our message to Brussels: We won’t pay!” the taxpayer-funded advert reads, echoing the messaging woven thro...
EU’s longest-serving leader hopes to retain power by telling voters the main threat to country comes from Kyiv Paid for by its rightwing, populist government and generated using AI, the billboards – showing Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU officials with their hands outstretched – blanket Hungary. “Our message to Brussels: We won’t pay!” the taxpayer-funded advert reads, echoing the messaging woven through spots on radio, television and social media. It’s a nod to the election strategy that Viktor Orbán, the EU’s longest-serving leader, has unleashed as he lags in most polls before upcoming elections: convincing voters that the country’s greatest threat is not fraying social services, the rising cost of living or economic stagnation, but rather the neighbouring country of Ukraine. Continue reading...
A former ranger tells the story of how the UK’s forests intimately shaped – and were shaped by – its people It may not sit well with the politicians who now seek to govern it, but Britain has always been a land of immigrants – our “native” fauna and flora among them. More than 10,000 years ago, in the wake of retreating ice sheets, trees from the warmer south began to re-colonise this chilly north...
A former ranger tells the story of how the UK’s forests intimately shaped – and were shaped by – its people It may not sit well with the politicians who now seek to govern it, but Britain has always been a land of immigrants – our “native” fauna and flora among them. More than 10,000 years ago, in the wake of retreating ice sheets, trees from the warmer south began to re-colonise this chilly north-western fringe of Europe: first birch, then hazel, elm, oak and alder. By the time rising sea levels submerged the marshy lowlands connecting it to the rest of the continent, the new British mainland was covered in a luxuriant tangle of forest. In this primeval wildwood, a squirrel could leap tree-to-tree from north coast to south, east coast to west. Or so one story goes. In Ancient, woodland expert Luke Barley sets out to tell a more complex and fascinating tale of our forests and the people that have lived with and made use of them. His title points back to the post-ice age woodland and its forerunners in sweltering or wintry deep prehistory, but it also holds a more specific meaning. Under classifications drawn up in the 1970s, a UK wood is considered “ancient” if it was already in existence by 1600 (in Scotland, by 1750), as shown on the earliest accurate maps. These are our last links to the wildwood, places where the undisturbed soil still supports a rich and intricate ecosystem that no human ingenuity can recreate. Continue reading...
From magical swimming spots to museums and pizza joints, our readers share their top Welsh discoveries • Tell us about a favourite break on an island in Europe – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher I’m a fan of the lesser-known beaches along the dramatic and rugged Glamorgan Heritage coastline ; Wick, Monknash and Nash Point. One of my favourite routes requires a scenic hike across fields and...
From magical swimming spots to museums and pizza joints, our readers share their top Welsh discoveries • Tell us about a favourite break on an island in Europe – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher I’m a fan of the lesser-known beaches along the dramatic and rugged Glamorgan Heritage coastline ; Wick, Monknash and Nash Point. One of my favourite routes requires a scenic hike across fields and a precipitous scramble down Cwm Bach ladder. The reward is a gorgeous expanse of rocky beach with only the occasional distant naturist and huge stepped cliffs absolutely full of fossils, including some enormous ammonites. The nearby ancient Plough & Harrow feels like a step back in time and you’re being served beer in someone’s living room. P Thomas Continue reading...
In this week’s newsletter: The climate crisis is making insurance unaffordable for many – and it should worry all of us, even if we think we’re safe from floods, wildfires and hurricanes • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here I’m worried about insurance. Some homes are becoming uninsurable due to the rapidly escalating impacts of the climate crisis. And that should worry y...
In this week’s newsletter: The climate crisis is making insurance unaffordable for many – and it should worry all of us, even if we think we’re safe from floods, wildfires and hurricanes • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here I’m worried about insurance. Some homes are becoming uninsurable due to the rapidly escalating impacts of the climate crisis. And that should worry you too, even if you think your home is safe enough. Under water, in denial: is Europe drowning out the climate crisis? The Great Olympic lie: untold story of Winter Games’ huge environmental impact ‘It’s more exciting than Tesco’: can traditional fishing lure Cornwall’s young people? ‘Homes may have to be abandoned’: how climate crisis has reshaped Britain’s flood risk ‘Delays, lowballs, outright denials’: how the LA wildfires have exposed the US’s broken insurance industry The Guardian view on the rising risk from flooding: uninsurable buildings should focus minds on climate adaptation Continue reading...
Households on a default dual-fuel tariff in Great Britain could cut costs by moving to a fixed deal Experts have told households whose energy bills are pegged to the price cap not to “rest on their laurels” as they could save more than £200 a year on a fixed deal. This week, Ofgem said the price cap in Great Britain would drop by 7% from April. This usually only matters if you are on a default tar...
Households on a default dual-fuel tariff in Great Britain could cut costs by moving to a fixed deal Experts have told households whose energy bills are pegged to the price cap not to “rest on their laurels” as they could save more than £200 a year on a fixed deal. This week, Ofgem said the price cap in Great Britain would drop by 7% from April. This usually only matters if you are on a default tariff, but this time the reduction applies to everyone because the government is removing green charges from bills. Continue reading...
Zimbabwe refuses to sign agreement and Kenya faces a court case over data sharing as new aid deals come under scrutiny A series of bilateral health agreements being negotiated between African countries and the administration of President Donald Trump have been labelled “clearly lop-sided” and “immoral” amid growing outrage at US demands, including countries being forced to share biological resourc...
Zimbabwe refuses to sign agreement and Kenya faces a court case over data sharing as new aid deals come under scrutiny A series of bilateral health agreements being negotiated between African countries and the administration of President Donald Trump have been labelled “clearly lop-sided” and “immoral” amid growing outrage at US demands, including countries being forced to share biological resources and data. It emerged this week that Zimbabwe had halted negotiations with the US for $350m (£258m) of health funding, saying the proposals risked undermining its sovereignty and independence. Continue reading...