It began with an election and ended just over 300 years later in a hail of bullets. Rulers of Russia from 1613 to 1917, the dynasty included such famed figures as Peter the Great – the westward-lookin

Around 15 years ago, together with two colleagues, I was compiling and translating an anthology that was eventually published as The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry. We were eager to include previously

Yet, given the dark and often introverted nature of the concerto, it’s hardly surprising that Shostakovich kept the work under wraps for so long, feeling that programming it was inadvisable until the

A liberal thinker about the American century

‘I felt that I should like to kiss the hands that had awakened a new world of music for me.’ The year was 1888, the occasion was the Paris debut of a 27-year-old pianist named Ignacy Jan Paderewski. A

A New York conservative’s writing life