No excuses can hide the criminal actions of a Nazi fellow-traveller in this admirably objective documentary, suggests MARTIN HALL
Dangerous vagueness
JONATHAN TAYLOR excavates the paradox that underlies Burgess’s ambivalent attitude to music
NAZI ASPIRATIONS: Wilhelm Furtwangler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in a "work-break" concert at AEG in February 1941, organized by the Nazi Strength Through Joy program
PAUL DONOVAN relishes a fascinating exploration of the leading lights of the Labour right in the 1970s
BEN LUNN alerts us to the creeping return of philanthropy and private patronage, and suggests alternative paths to explore
A novel by Argentinian Jorge Consiglio, a personal dictionary by Uruguayan Ida Vitale, and poetry by Mexican Homero Aridjis
MIK SABIERS savours the first headline solo show of the stalwart of Brighton’s indie-punk outfit Blood Red Shoes
New releases reviewed by IAN SINCLAIR
STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
The Devil Prefers Mozart: On Music and Musicians, 1962-1993
Anthony Burgess, Carcanet, £30
IN old age, one of violinist Yehudi Menuhin’s mottos was: “My life has been spent in building utopias.” Author, musician and critic Anthony Burgess might be said to have done the opposite, given that his most well-known creation is a work of dystopian fiction. Yet Burgess later disavowed A Clockwork Orange, and wanted to be seen instead as a serious composer.
In The Devil Prefers Mozart, a fascinating collection of the author’s musical writings, brilliantly edited and contextualised by Paul Phillips, Burgess often seems to aspire to Menuhin’s utopian condition. In a review of the violinist’s autobiography, for example, he cites Menuhin’s life motto approvingly, and declares in response: “In Britain’s present cacotopia may he continue to rule an enclave of virtue and beauty.”
As many people have pointed out, though, the problem with utopias is that they are subjective: one person’s utopia is another’s dystopia; and sometimes, utopia and cacotopia might even co-exist within the same person’s vision.
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