Archive
The complete Open Letters Monthly Archive.
he music of Ben-Haim will not change lives – by 1984, when he died, it was hardly heard in Israel any more – but the musical personality behind it is attractive, smart and persuasive
Read MoreA vivid new history recounts the resurgence of the Allies against the Germany war machine during the highest pitch of the Second World War
Read MoreTo sing Richard Strauss, everything has to be just-so, shimmering on the surface and hinting at Freudian urges below. English soprano Louise Alder meets his challenge.
Read MoreA sharp new history recounts the pitch-and-tumble fortunes of York and Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses
Read Moreever heard of Carbonelli? Don’t feel too bad about it. Listen to the music, though, and you will wonder how work of such quality and intricacy could vanish so comprehensively into the mists of history.
Read MoreThe quest for social media click-traffic leads a young video-maker to the heights of the world's deadliest mountain in Sarah Lotz's new thriller.
Read MoreA big, wonderfully readable new history of the sixteenth-century religious upheaval that transformed English life
Read MoreGeorgy Sviridov was born in the thick of Russia’s metamorphosis, and his idiom in these lieder – narrative, tonal, almost static at times – reflects the stand-off between political upheaval and the impervious cycles of nature.
Read MoreA thorough and searching new book explores not only the tragic fate of the Donner Party but the dreams that motivated them in the first place.
Read MoreThere is a lot of competition for performances of Ravel and De Falla's work for piano and orchestra, but Steven Osborne's new release belongs among the best.
Read MoreThe 1930 novel Rapture, by the Russian avant-garde artist Iliazd, is a fast-paced, darkly funny spin on the adventure genre.
Read MoreAs she did with Katherine of Aragon, Alison Weir gives Anne Boleyn the saintly treatment in her new novel. But does Anne, like Katherine, deserve it?
Read MoreDenis Johnson died last month, but we have his ten novels and his legacy: the inclination to see the great beauty only afforded by the stripping away of joy.
Read Morea poem
Read MoreSteve Danziger interviews Paula Bomer about her new collection of essays, Mysteries and Mortality, and much more besides.
Read MoreUnlike Jean Rhys, Sarah Shoemaker tells Mr. Rochester's side of Jane Eyre with respect and fidelity to Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece. But is that the problem?
Read MoreA lively memoir shows there's much more to learning a language than conjugating irregular verbs.
Read Morea poem
Read MoreAn innovative new book on Lewis Carroll and space avoids spoiling the fun by explaining everything too literally, but still offers new insights on his playful oeuvre.
Read MoreJune brings a deliciously devious, dark take on vintage English crime fiction, and the return of a charismatic antihero searching for redemption.
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