stephenmoss
Pan pipes, pinot noir and productivity: the hidden power of music
What song sounds like strawberries? Can the right playlist relieve pain? And why does classical music make us spend money? A fascinating new show tries to answer all these questions and more
Stephen Moss
24, Oct, 2022 @9:08 AM
Confessions of a serial chess cheat: I’m quite enjoying the Carlsen v Niemann fallout | Stephen Moss
After 40 years out of the spotlight, the beef between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann has made people talk about chess again, says author Stephen Moss
Stephen Moss
08, Oct, 2022 @7:00 AM
From Mendelssohn to mush: a day tuned to Scala Radio’s Women Composers
A new digital station plays only music written by women. Stephen Moss finds treasures as well as tedium, but wishes Scala’s classical channel could be bolder
Stephen Moss
10, Jan, 2022 @8:00 AM
‘Feel the fear, then do it’: Wagner’s Ring cycle gets a bold Samoan rework
Productions of Wagner’s epic take years in the planning and execution, huge spaces and hundreds of people. How is a small arts collective performing all four operas in a Putney church, and how do a conch shell and a fire dance fit in?
Stephen Moss
28, Oct, 2021 @6:00 AM
Thomas Quasthoff: ‘From birth, my mum felt guilty. I had to show her I made the best of my life’
Born disabled due to the effects of Thalidomide, the exuberant star rose to classical music’s pinnacle – then quit at the peak of his powers. Now he’s back – singing jazz
Stephen Moss
17, Aug, 2021 @5:00 AM
Saint-Saëns: unfashionable, underrated – and overdue for reappraisal
His Carnival of the Animals is widely played and loved, but there’s a great, great deal more to Camille Saint-Saëns. As the Proms marks his centenary, we salute a composer of wit and compression who loathed excesses of emotion
Stephen Moss
02, Aug, 2021 @3:53 PM
Matt Haig: ‘I have never written a book that will be more spoofed or hated’
The multimillion-selling novelist and mental health guru talks about his days as the ‘karaoke Ian McEwan’, finding fame and fortune – and taking on the haters
Stephen Moss
01, Jul, 2021 @5:00 AM
Tracing our past: six timelines that tell the story of the Guardian
Track how the Guardian goes from a regional weekly to a global media organisation, as the world it is reporting on transforms immeasurably too
Duarte Carrilho da Graça Mark Rice-OxleyStephen MossRichard NelssonPhilippa Mole
05, May, 2021 @1:00 PM
Vaccine vials and a virtual hug: a history of coronavirus in 15 objects
How will we tell the story of Covid-19 to future generations, capturing all the fear, horror and hope? Around the world, museums have begun to answer that question
Stephen Moss
21, Feb, 2021 @2:00 PM
From the sublime to the ridiculous: our critics best and worst of Wagner's Ring Cycle
Ahead of Radio 3’s broadcast of all four operas, we asked our writers which moments of the epic they love the most – and which they hope to never hear again
Tim Ashley, Andrew Clements, Rian Evans, Erica Jeal, Martin Kettle, Fiona Maddocks, Stephen Moss, Rowena Smith and Flora Willson
15, Feb, 2021 @12:01 PM
Ten beds that changed the world, from King Tut to Tracey Emin
As long as there have been humans, there have been beds. Here are some landmark examples
Stephen Moss
22, Jan, 2021 @6:00 AM
A wing and a prayer: the enduring beauty of The Lark Ascending
The evergreen popularity of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s classical chart topper, which premiered a century ago, masks its profundity
Stephen Moss
08, Dec, 2020 @12:30 PM
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