Reviews this week
The struggle to surpass nature
Alan Caine reviews The Courtauld Cézannes exhibition

A sprawling opera that made me weep
Michael White reviews two brilliant but unruly works

A Baroque wonderland built by Jesuits and kings
A unique mix of fortuitous patronage, foreign influence and the quality of native stone gives Sicilian architecture its striking and variegated style, finds John Graham

San Francesco Saverio in Palermo

Older reviews

Faint echoes of a great mystery
Freddie Sayers on Prince Caspian

Next year Aldeburgh will be in safe hands
Michael White on the Aldeburgh Festival and Covent Garden's revival of Ariadne auf Naxos

The cafeteria Catholic with a walk-on part in history
Often portrayed as Lady Macbeth to her husband, Cherie Blair emerges from her autobiography as a loyal, intelligent and courageous woman, says Charlie Hegarty

Trying desperately to be epic
David Shariatmadari on The Edge of Love

How London rose from the ashes to become the greatest city in the world
Following the Great Fire five brilliant men laid the foundations for the metropolis we know today, discovers Matt Thorne

A muted Romeo and a joyous Juliet
Dennis Chang on Romeo and Juliet and Dances at a Gathering

A superstar's faltering return
Michael White on Don Carlo and the Padre Pio Premieres at Westminster Cathedral

Tibet, 'a barbarous land where men drink blood'
Chinese propaganda represented Tibet as a darkly primitive place. But one Beijing student found its emptiness and majesty difficult to resist, finds John Hinton

Marching in step
Dutch Catholics were cut off from Europe yet still heeded the Council of Trent, says Jonathan Wright

Cannes shows its serious side
By Peter Malone MSC

A near-ideal staging of a perfect opera
Michael White on Eugene Onegin at Glyndebourne and the ENO's Rosenkavalier

How the media created the summer of 'Our Maddie'
Jim Butler reviews a memoir of last year when the disappearance of a little girl and other disturbing events showed commentators at their manipulative worst

The riches of England's heritage
Anthony Symondson SJ on Treasures of the English Church at Goldsmiths' Hall

A flawless orchestra - and a singer in lingerie
Michael White at Glyndebourne

The truth about ordinary Germans and the Jews
This admirably even-handed history of the Holocaust does not let the mass of German citizens - or the Catholic Church - off the hook, says Andrew M Brown

The decline of Woody Allen
His latest film Cassandra's Dream should never have seen the light of day, says Ed West

Up, up and away with J S Bach
Damian Thompson is lifted up to heaven at St John's, Smith Square

A clash of cultures which down the centuries rumbles
Western and Eastern civilisations represent two different and ultimately incompatible cultures which have never seen eye-to-eye, argues Quentin de la Bédoyère

Romance is painful in Beirut
Ed West on Caramel

Can these (very) short stories rescue the genre?
The American writer Amy Hempel's mordant little stories are widely admired - yet sometimes they read like jokes without a punchline, says Matt Thorne

Good will ethics
These 18 essays represent Catholic theology at its best, says John Greenhalgh

Like looking at a shop window
Michael White on the ENO's Merry Widow and a breathtaking performance from The Sixteen

How a parish played host to Australia's statesmen
A tiny parish in Canberra became a platform for leading Catholic thinkers to grapple with questions of faith, morality and politics, says Ben May

Poor Tommy
John Hinton on Isaac Rosenberg, the most neglected of the First World War poets

Taking on corporate baddies
Ed West on Iron Man

At last - a truly Catholic Passion
James MacMillan's Passion is magnificent, says Damian Thompson

'The war's coming, Kevin, and it's going to be serious'
Kevin Myers became Northern Ireland correspondent at the start of the Troubles - a job no one else wanted. His account of the era is thrilling, says Ed West

Melting into water
Dennis Chang on Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Sylvie Guillem

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