iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Bernstein at the Vanguard - My piece for the @leonardbernstein.com newsletter about Bernstein’s encounters with Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Morton Feldman, whose centenaries all fall this year - Coltrane’s today! leonardbernstein.com/news/blog/33...

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I’m on the radio on Sunday evening talking about Edgard Varèse should anyone fancy it.

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Jeremy Hunt v Arnold Schoenberg…

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

For @nybooks.com - a piece about the mighty Liza Lim, how to write ‘memory theatre’ instead of opera and the art of rescuing instruments from extinction. www.nybooks.com/online/2026/...

nybooks.com

The Grain of the Note | Philip Clark

The carnyx is an ancient bronze trumpet, once used by Iron Age warriors who relied on its otherworldly blood-curdling cry to fill their opponents with the

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

A piece for the weekly @prospectmagazine.co.uk culture newsletter about the late great Mike Westbrook, Soho now and then, overpriced cheese baguettes as a metaphor for music, and the wisdom, or not, of performing classical music at Ronnie Scott’s. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/the-...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

The decline of Soho

Ronnie Scott’s new classical night is pleasant enough—but it’s a far cry from the cultural free experimentation of the past

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

I’ve written a review, in brief, of Paul Morley’s new book about Yoko Ono and the New York avant-garde for the latest issue of @prospectmagazine.co.uk, out today.

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

For @prospectmagazine.co.uk I met up with Will Self to talk about life-changing illness, making characters piss themselves in front of Prince Philip, and the death of satire. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/7279...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

Will Self, satire’s elegist

The novelist has battled—is battling—death. His latest book is funereal in more ways than one

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I didn't much care for Robin Holloway's odyssey, while Elizabeth Alker's new book has its moments - my review for the latest issue of @prospectmagazine.co.uk, published today. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/7256...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

The great discordance: where does classical start and end?

Two new books approach music in very different ways. In one, it’s a strictly bounded realm. In the other, there’s glorious spillover

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

THRILLED to be in this month’s @tonyhancock.bsky.social newsletter - stone me!

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

From Liza Lim's String Creatures to Xhosa Cole's Thelonious Monk, via Michael Tippett, Meredith Monk, Brahms and Ben LaMar Gay - my top ten classical and jazz albums of 2025 for @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/7195...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

Classical & Jazz Albums of the Year: 2025

Our critic picks his top ten from the past 12 months

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

No political party comes out of this covered in any glory - my piece for the @prospectmagazine.co.uk culture newsletter about copyright and those AI jerks who feel entitled to steal music. Also contains gratuitous dig at Nick Clegg. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/the-...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

The silence of Paul McCartney says a lot

The former Beatle has joined other famous musicians to make a stand against AI

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

In which I write about the new Alan Partridge series & conclude all paths in British comedy lead back to Tony Hancock. Subscribe to @prospectmagazine.co.uk culture newsletter - www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/newsletters Online link: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/the-... @tonyhancock.bsky.social

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

"A novel that speeds away in a thousand directions at once - a free improvisation sprawling over nearly 400 pages." My piece about that other great 1925 American novel, John Dos Passos' Manhattan Transfer, for @prospectmagazine.co.uk

prospectmagazine.co.uk

The other great American novel of 1925

You can’t miss the centenary celebrations for ‘The Great Gatsby’. But what about John Dos Passos’s compulsive, cacophonous ‘Manhattan Transfer’?

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

A piece about Charles Ives, how his work changed ideas about ways in which music could be recorded, how he queried the boundaries of symphonies and sonatas, and about why he still matters, inspired by an essential recent box set of his music. thespectator.com/book-and-art...

thespectator.com

Charles Ives was a composer before his time

Ives left his distinctive mark on the form, yet paradoxically barely any of the material in the symphony was his. The Second Symphony operated

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Thoughts on Pierre Boulez, how not to review concerts, and the politics of modernism for the @prospectmagazine.co.uk weekly culture newsletter, which you can sign up for here - prospectmagazine.co.uk/newsletters

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Jean-Philippe Rameau to Mary Halvorson and Helmut Lachenmann, via Elaine Mitchener, Robert Schumann and Alice Coltrane - my ten albums of the year for @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/6895...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

Classical & Jazz Albums of the Year: 2024

From elusive melodies to swooping harps, here’s our critic’s top ten for the year

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

“Nothing says Christmas in my house like Jon Fosse.” A Christmas recommendation for the seasonal @prospectmagazine.co.uk culture newsletter. Good stuff too from @katemaltby.bsky.social, @alexlarman.bsky.social et al.

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

For @prospectmagazine.co.uk I talked to legendary filmmaker Ken Burns, @kenlburns.bsky.social, about his new Leonardo da Vinci documentary, now showing on BBC4, about Donald Trump and Kamala Harris - and about America's instinct for improvisation. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/6885...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

“This situation is a greater crisis, I fear, than the Civil War”

The great US documentarian’s latest film is about Leonardo da Vinci. We spoke to him about genius, AI—and the state of American democracy

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Some thoughts on Helmut Lachenmann and the @londonsymphony.bsky.social at the Barbican last week - a piece for the @prospectmagazine.co.uk weekly culture newsletter, which you can sign up for here - prospectmagazine.co.uk/newsletters

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

I wrote about Leonard Bernstein's final stage work - A Quiet Place, and its companion piece, Trouble In Tahiti - for the monthly Bernstein newsletter Prelude, Fugue and Riffs. leonardbernstein.com/news/blog/28...

leonardbernstein.com

Blog | News | Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein, American composer, conductor, pianist, educator, and humanitarian.

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Reposted by Philip Clark

The Wire Magazine @thewiremagazine.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Feel the bounce: Roy Haynes (13 March 1925–12 November 2024) The great US drummer died on 12 November aged 99. In 2000, Philip Clark interviewed him, discussing some of the stellar moments in his life in jazz www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

thewire.co.uk

Feel the bounce: Roy Haynes (13 March 1925–12 November 2024) - The Wire

The great US drummer died on 12 November aged 99. In 2000, Philip Clark interviewed him, discussing some of the stellar moments in a jazz life that traversed the entire history of the music and encoun...

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 05/11/2024

Some thoughts about Helmut Lachenmann and how to reverse-engineer a symphony orchestra, ahead of the London Symphony Orchestra's performance of Lachenmann's fantastical My Melodies on November 28th. www.lso.co.uk/an-introduct...

lso.co.uk

An Introduction to Helmut Lachenmann | London Symphony Orchestra

Philip Clark explores the fascinating sonic world of German composer Helmut Lachenmann.

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 24/10/2024

Last week I went to Alexandra Palace, to the @BFI London Film Festival, to see three reconstructed 1920s Sherlock Holmes films flicker back to life - my piece for Prospect magazine’s weekly culture newsletter, which you can sign up for here - prospectmagazine.co.uk/newsletters

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 27/09/2024

I went to Cafe Oto earlier this month to experience Incapacitants in their full glory - a piece for LRB blogs. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2024/se...

lrb.co.uk

Philip Clark | Sonic Tirade

According to their publicity material, the Tokyo-based duo Incapacitants deploy feedback, vocals and ‘various...

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 25/09/2024

For the November issue of Prospect magazine, I spoke to Laurie Anderson about her latest album Amelia, about the terror of piloting an orchestra for the first time, and about her latest stage work ARK. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/views/people...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

Laurie Anderson: ‘I view my music as a celebration, not a mourning’

The artist on her latest album, an experimental tribute to Amelia Earheart

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Philip Clark @musicclerk.bsky.social · 24/09/2024

My review for Prospect magazine of @tromano.bsky.social's riotous new book on the history and continuing fortunes, or otherwise, of the Village Voice. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/6798...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

Speaking for NYC

It ain’t what it once was—one of the greatest, most irreverent, most democratic periodicals in history

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