The Spin Doctor Europadisc's Weekly Column

Art, Music and Paul Klee

21st September 2022

Visual arts like painting and sculpture are often presented as the antithesis of such performing as music and even theatre. Where painting and sculpture occupy physical space, music exists primarily in time. Painting is static and fixed, while music is dynamic, temporal and progressional. But are such distinctions really helpful? This weekend, the Spin Doctor was in Bern, and paid a visit to the Zentrum Paul Klee, a marvellous, undulating 2005 building designed by Renzo Piano and dedicated to the work of Swiss artist Paul... read more

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The New Elizabethans

14th September 2022

Seventy years ago, on the accession of the young Queen Elizabeth II, there was much talk of 'a New Elizabethan Age', bolstered by the success of the Festival of Britain a year earlier, and the pageantry of the coronation amid the gloom of postwar austerity a year later. There was a degree of hubris about this: one of those who invoked it, a misty-eyed Winston Churchill, had only recently been returned to power, and was keen to harness the patriotic potential of the young monarch. The first Elizabethan era had lasted 45 years... read more

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The New Elizabethans

14th September 2022

Seventy years ago, on the accession of the young Queen Elizabeth II, there was much talk of 'a New Elizabethan Age', bolstered by the success of the Festival of Britain a year earlier, and the pageantry of the coronation amid the gloom of postwar austerity a year later. There was a degree of hubris about this: one of those who invoked it, a misty-eyed Winston Churchill, had only recently been returned to power, and was keen to harness the patriotic potential of the young monarch. The first Elizabethan era had lasted 45 years... read more

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A few thoughts on Great Recordings; Lars Vogt

7th September 2022

What is it that makes a great recording? It’s a question that music lovers, critics and even performers themselves keep coming back to. Do Beethoven sonata recordings by pianists as diverse as Schnabel, Solomon, Gilels, Pollini and Levit have something in common, and what might it be? We’ve been musing on this question for a while. They are performances that instantly stand out from the crowd, yet simultaneously seem to capture the flavour of and set the standards for a whole era. They may be recorded live or in the studio,... read more

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Rafael Kubelík: The All-Round Musician

31st August 2022

One of the great conductors of the 20th century, Rafael Kubelík has seen a resurgence of interest in recent years. His essentially lyrical yet unsentimental style of music-making, steeped in the Czech style and the traditions of central Europe, clear-textured and unaffected (with the podium manner and appearance of an eccentric but genial professor in later years), is the sort that ages well, when passing fashions have long since faded. Little wonder, then, that new generations of collectors have been discovering his... read more

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