Steve Crowther

Sometimes the circumstances surrounding a concert become almost as memorable as the music itself. A recollection of one particularly surreal evening — and a rather unexpected collision of musical and cultural worlds. #ContemporaryMusic #StringQuartet #NewMusic #ConcertLife

This is a must read Substack essay by the ever-excellent Carole Cadwalladr. The role of the The Times in Jason Arday's brutal character assassination appears to be at best unprofessional, at worst...better not go there.

Back down the Alice Cooper rabbit hole. This time, Welcome to My Nightmare – and an album that turned out to be rather more interesting than I remembered. #AliceCooper #WelcomeToMyNightmare #ClassicRock #RockMusic

This is excellent.

We have been saying for many years that the only way to fix care is by all of the main parties agreeing on the same plan. We have a responsibility to work together and a real opportunity to fix it.

If Labour wasn't shaped by Marx, what ideas did shape it? My latest essay traces Labour's intellectual journey from Hardie to Burnham, arguing that the party's history is one of competing traditions rather than a single ideology. #Labour #PoliticalHistory

The Odyssey cost $250 million to make. Guess who got a tax break worth more than 30x that last year? Amazon—after firing 30,000 workers.

New essay: Muscle of Love Revisited: The Original Alice Cooper Band's Forgotten Farewell Why the original Alice Cooper band's final album deserves a reassessment.

My review of Helen Charlston, Paul Agnew & Sergio Bucheli: A Gentle Air from this year's York Early Music Festival

Well done The Daily Mail! 👏 Burnham must be held to account for the failures of his regime so far. His removal of VAT from electricity bills has already come far too late & could’ve been done yesterday. If he hasn’t solved the cost of living crisis by Friday then he must go! 😡

My review of Imago Mundi: Tears into Light from this year's York Early Music Festival:

My review of Contre le Temps: Le Baiser de la Rose at the 2026 York Early Music Festival is now on Substack. The first in a short series of festival reviews:

New upload: Forever Now – for tenor and piano, setting poems by York poet and author, Helen Cadbury. Live performance now on YouTube:

To boost living standards, Burnham also needs a serious plan to reduce the Brexit penalty, which costs the UK at least £30bn a year. www.arguably.uk/p/we-cant-af...

Two important points in Burnham's address: "Where young people need mental health support, that will be provided as part of in-work support." He was taking [Alan Milburn's] findings seriously and that there needed to be a "complete rethink of how we support the next generation to succeed."

How sad is this?

Now on YouTube: Piano Sonata No. 4, performed by Ian Pace. Written in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the sonata unfolds in three continuous sections, balancing urgency with moments of reflection before arriving at a tentative sense of closure. I'd be delighted if you gave it a listen.

And there it is… www.desmog.com/2026/04/30/r...

Delighted to share a new recording of my Piano Sonata No. 3 on YouTube. Performed by the brilliant Ian Pace.

Just published a performance of my Piano Sonata No.2 by Ian Pace. If you'd like to spend eighteen minutes in its company, here's the link. Comments and shares are always appreciated.

Beneath the snakes, guillotines and shock theatrics lay one of the most original rock bands of the 1970s.

The government needs to leave X. EVERYONE needs to leave X.

Lesson one. From Rupert Lowe. (An MP no less) How to instigate a riot…but also claim you in no way instigated a riot. 😊

What are the Government, police and security services doing about the people who are quite clearly in the pay of a hostile foreign state, and using their platforms to whip up actual pogroms on our streets? This is a major national security issue and absolutely nothing seems to be happening about it

I shall be voting for Andy Burnham, but Wes Streeting sounded seriously impressive here.

Henry Nowak’s father’s words outside court, who is probably the person we most need to hear from today.

Philip Glass, Yukio Mishima and Paul Schrader’s extraordinary meditation on beauty, ritual and self-destruction. #PhilipGlass #Mishima #PaulSchrader #JapaneseLiterature #Cinema

Editorial in the Saturday Times. Yes, indeed impressive – as @rory-stewart.bsky.social will no doubt testify. But would you trust Alex Karp? Would you trust Peter Thiel? This is an example of the market forces – devoid of any ethics – hitting rock bottom!

Just uploaded a performance of my chamber work: Once Upon a Time, Harlequin Met His Columbine Performed by members of Trio Agile with dancers from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. A review from the York Press: “Harlequin and Columbine playing hide-and-seek against piano backing.”

One of the loveliest programme notes I’ve read in years.

York Chamber Music Festival Launch Concert: Review

Could you help me? Am I right in thinking that after all the shenanigans with The Labour Party over the last few days these are the only DEFINITE candidates emerging to challenge Keir Starmer: Chris Mason Beth Rigby Robert Peston Oh and possibly Andy Burnham? 🤔

I hope this isn’t true. There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them. Burnham’s longstanding commitment to a fairer voting system could transform our democracy & counter the dire threat of a Reform UK government elected on a minority of the vote

Gaza: Doctors Under Attack has won the BAFTA TV Award for Current Affairs after being dropped by the BBC and later broadcast by Channel 4. The documentary focuses on Palestinian healthcare workers in Gaza and the impact of ongoing conflict on the medical system. 🧵(1/4)

Could Keir Starmer’s problems simply reflect Labour’s deeper loss of identity? #Labour #UKPolitics

Not Wes (Palantir) Streeting, please!

Made in Bradford — a poem about absence, transformation, and continuity. I’ve set this (and six others from Helen Cadbury’s Forever Now) for performance this Saturday at 1pm, York Unitarian Chapel. Details & tickets: www.latemusic.org

New concert review: The Chimera Ensemble at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall. Julius Eastman’s Femenine in a hypnotic, hour-long performance. #ClassicalMusic #JuliusEastman

Imagine Jesus popping back and seeing his new disciples?

“Jewish Londoners should never feel unsafe in our city. After the attack in Golders Green, we must stand together against antisemitism and call out hate-driven acts. I’ll continue to work with City Hall and programmes to combat antisemitism and promote community cohesion” Sadiq Khan

Kemi Badenoch ends the session with a misleading Q about universal credit claimants who are out of work: she said numbers up 1.5m since election, but this includes transfers from older benefits www.gov.uk/government/s...

EXCL: Police are assessing evidence about donations to Robert Jenrick’s campaign to become Tory leader in 2024 after a referral from the elections watchdog. Cracking reporting from @rowenamason.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Two exhibitions. 150 years apart. One very persistent Promenade. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition wasn’t just about Hartmann’s drawings – it invented a way of walking through art in sound. York Late Music picks up the idea and runs with it. Same journey. Different pictures.

Somebody hire this woman... please...

The revived Hitler satire that comes with a warning With rising populism and disinformation around the world, the revival of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui feels uncomfortably close to home for actor Mark Gatiss, writes Minnie Stephenson. Read our latest newsletter:

Britain should rejoin EU, says man who led Brexit department Philip Rycroft, who oversaw the Department for Exiting the European Union from 2017 to 2019, said none of Leave’s ‘heady promises’ had materialised www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

A fortnight of positive news for the UK economy – Labour deserve more credit www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/a-f...

From Eroica to Workers Union: When Music Became Political open.substack.com/pub/clueless...