The New Criterion

The New Criterion is a monthly arts and intellectual review that was established in 1982 by art critic Hilton Kramer and music critic Samuel Lipman, under the editorship of Roger Kimball. This publication started as a bold experiment in critical thought, aiming to explore “the best that has been thought and said,” a phrase made famous by Matthew Arnold. It actively confronts those who seek to undermine authentic cultural and intellectual achievements through confusion, politicization, or absurdity. The New Criterion takes pride in being a leader in celebrating the most significant and human aspects of our cultural heritage while also revealing dishonest, damaging, and false narratives. Released monthly from September to June, it features a diverse group of both emerging and established critics, all dedicated to delivering some of the sharpest criticism available today.

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“Week in review,” by Suzanna Murawski

1 week ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Samuel Lipman |Heather Mac Donald |Brooke Allen

Recent stories of note:“To know or not to know”Costica Bradatan, The Times Literary SupplementMark Lilla’s recent book Ignorance and Bliss, a wandering exploration of the “will to ignorance” reviewed by Costica Bradatan in The Times Literary Supplement, begins with a version of Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave. In this version, however, the man who is compelled to leave his shadowy bondage pities the condition of those around him and brings along a young boy.
Shining in Florida

1 week ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Samuel Lipman |Brooke Allen

America, so the received wisdom goes, is home to five great orchestras: the New York Philharmonic, the symphony orchestras of Boston and Chicago, and the orchestras of Philadelphia and Cleveland. To this “Big Five,” one should rightly add the National Symphony Orchestra, which performs mainly at Washington’s recently newsworthy John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The return of an Odysseus

2 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Samuel Lipman |Brooke Allen

There is considerable irony in the upcoming events centering on Paul Cézanne in his hometown of Aix-en-Provence, France. Although today there is a large statue of the artist at the city’s central plaza, Place Charles De Gaulle, and the sidewalks are studded with medallions bearing the artist’s name and a large C encircling the city crest, Cézanne was virtually a stranger to his own municipality during his lifetime.
Music for a While #101: A Frenchman’s birthday, etc.

2 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Jay Nordlinger

This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Maurice Ravel’s birth. So we have been hearing a lot of him. Jay plays two pieces by him—two of his best, and most typical. There are also Spanish songs, by Obradors and Rodrigo. Some Schumann, some Vaughan Williams, and so on. Plus several stories—personal ones. An enriching, smile-making program.
The Critic’s Notebook

2 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Samuel Lipman |Brooke Allen

Art:“A Home for Art” and “Closer Look at Turner’s Cologne, the Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Evening,” at the Frick Collection, New York (May 2): If you’re thinking of swinging by the newly reopened Frick Collection sometime this May, try this Friday evening, when two talks will add an extra dollop of learning to your visit.
A Fischer in front of the Phil

2 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Samuel Lipman |Brooke Allen

In the last few days, the New York Philharmonic has been conducted by Iván Fischer, the Hungarian. He is one of the Fabulous Fischer Brothers, the other being Ádám, also a conductor. Iván’s program with the Philharmonic consisted of Mozart on the first half and the Fischers’ fellow Hungarian, Béla Bartók, on the second. I attended Saturday night’s concert. The program began with an overture (a good way to begin): that to The Magic Flute. The orchestra started almost together.
Latinx Oxoniensis

2 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Samuel Lipman |Joshua Katz

Last month, the University of Oxford announced in the weekly Gazette a series of proposed “changes to the Conduct of Ceremonies in Congregation, and certain other Ceremonies.” Among these changes are some alterations to the Latin spoken at the conferral of degrees, which, the university claims, are “necessary so that the Latin used can refer to those who identify as non-binary, as well as those who identify as male and female.” The necessity, it should be stressed, is not obvious since the...
A Viennese hour in Detroit

3 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Gary Saul Morson |Thomas Philbrick

Few cities can rival Vienna’s list of cultural and artistic luminaries. The thinkers Ludwig Wittgenstein, Carl Menger, Viktor Frankl, Friederich Hayek, and Sigmund Freud were all Viennese. So were the writers Stefan Zweig, Ignaz Castelli, and Arthur Schnitzler. And then, of course, there are Vienna’s composers: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, the Strausses (all three of them), Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg, among others.
“Week in review,” by Suzanna Murawski

3 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Heather Mac Donald |Gary Saul Morson |Douglas Murray |David Gress

Recent stories of note:“Vargas Llosa Stood for Freedom Against the Nationalist Tide”Tunku Varadarajan, The Wall Street Journal“I learned to read at the age of five,” said Mario Vargas Llosa upon accepting his Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010. “It is the most important thing that has ever happened to me.” The Peruvian novelist, essayist, and politician died last Sunday at the age of eighty-nine, and his learning to read doubtless stands as an important event for the rest of the world, too.
Philip K. Howard | The New Criterion

4 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Philip Howard

Select an AuthorAbel, LionelAbowitz, RichardAdams, HarryAdams, J.