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Sep 12, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Simon Parkin |Bryan Appleyard |Paul F Kildea |Harry Cluff
Even before the 872-day long siege ended, both survivors and onlookers had already begun to refer to Leningrad — formerly and currently known as St. Petersburg — as a city of heroes. Tales of bravery and self-sacrifice were enshrined in memorials, histories and memoirs, which between 1945 and 1991 were published in the Soviet Union at an average rate of one per day.
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Sep 6, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Joanna Pocock |Alexander Larman |Paul F Kildea |Anne De Courcy
On reaching the end of Hettie Judah’s Acts of Creation, I felt somewhat overwhelmed. At 272 pages, the book isn’t particularly large, but the time span it covers, from prehistoric goddess figures to Laure Prouvost’s 2021 cyborg-octopus installation “MOOTHERR,” is enormous. The trajectories, practices and obsessions of the artists discussed range far and wide.
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Aug 29, 2024 | 
australianbookreview.com.au | Paul F Kildea |Arts Highlights
In the winter of 1937–38, Bertolt Brecht, a refugee from National Socialism, lived in furious exile in Svendborg, a small town on the Danish island of Funen. There he wrote and compiled a collection of poems under the working title ‘Gedichte im Exil’ (Poems in Exile). Sometime between galleys and the poet’s move to Sweden following the Munich Agreement, the book was renamed Svendborger Gedichte, the second section of which begins with a simple motto:
In the dark timesWill there also be singing?
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Aug 24, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Nicholas Farrell |Paul F Kildea |Billy McMorris |Amy Everett
Was it chance or destiny, I wonder, that caused the eldest of our six children, Caterina, to pull over in the dead of night and park the car where she did? She was on her way back with a young man from a beach party down the coast and had stopped next to a derelict farmhouse so she could look for shooting stars in the endless night and make a wish.
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Aug 24, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Paul F Kildea |Neve Gordon |Richard Kemp |Juan P. Villasmil
Some years ago, following a Christmas performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, I sat in one of the dives near the theater with a member of the corps de ballet, the gay son of close friends. The audience had been populated largely by children and teenagers, most of whom were either smitten by the intrepid, empathetic Clara or wanted to be her. Yet the mood perceptibly shifted when, at the end of Act I, the life-sized nutcracker doll transformed into a most handsome prince, all grace and gluts.
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Aug 21, 2024 | 
spectator.com.au | Paul F Kildea
Tchaikovsky’s Empire: A New Life of Russia’s Greatest Composer Yale, pp.384, 25 Some years ago, following a Christmas performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, I sat in one of the dives near the theatre with a member of the corps de ballet, the gay son of close friends. The audience had been populated largely by children and teenagers, most of whom were either smitten by the intrepid, empathetic Clara or wanted to be her.
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Aug 20, 2024 | 
spectator.co.uk | Paul F Kildea
Text size Line Spacing Comments Share Share Paul Kildea Introducing Tchaikovsky the merry scamp Linkedin Messenger Email Tchaikovsky’s Empire: A New Life of Russia’s Greatest Composer Simon Morrison Yale, pp. 384, £25 Some years ago, following a Christmas performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, I sat in one of the dives near the theatre with a member of the corps de ballet, the gay son of close friends. The audience had been populated largely by children and teenagers, most of whom were...
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Aug 17, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Catriona Olding |Nicholas Farrell |Paul F Kildea |Bill Kauffman
My eldest daughter’s husband is from Como. In the early 2000s George Clooney caused a stir in the town when he bought a villa on the lakeside nearby, triggering what’s become known as the Clooney effect — a rise in house prices and the number of “bougie” shops and restaurants catering for an increasing number of visitors. Rather than take a boat trip and gawp at the Villa Oleandra, visitors would be better heading to Gardone on Lake Garda and visiting Gabriele D’Annunzio’s insane Il Vittoriale.
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Aug 15, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Lewis Andrews |Nicholas Farrell |Paul F Kildea |Teresa Mull
By almost every historical indicator, the US is clearly approaching a debt crisis. The federal government’s aggregate liabilities now exceed its gross domestic product. The annual interest required to service federal obligations is greater than what Congress spends each year on defense. And projected annual deficits for the next decade are well ahead of estimated revenues by more than $2 trillion.
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Jul 18, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Jane Stannus |Nicholas Farrell |Paul F Kildea |Amy Everett
Pastry chef Alistair Wise says never to make pavlova on a rainy day. “Just forget about it,” he advises. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to perfect-pavlova advice. Run a cut lemon around the inside of your bowl before whipping the egg whites. Don’t use fresh egg whites, but also don’t use cold egg whites. Don’t use a plastic bowl, as it may harbor grease.
