I have frequently mentioned my feeling that tenors have nobly sacrificed many of their mental faculties to achieve the upper resonances they require for singing.

In that vein Mr Ian Bostridge (hello?) has been asked by the The Times Literary Supplement to review Alex Ross's "And The Rest Is Noise" for the Thunderer.  Bostridge's toadying encomium can be read here:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3848743.ece

Astute readers will note how Bostridge warms to his task - lauding the book's most rampant lies as though they were genuine fact?  Richard Strauss is discreetly pardoned for his membership of the Nazi Party because he was such a talented cove, while Shostakovich is thrown back in the dog-house for being a pinko russky.  (The drivel about the Seventh Symphony being written about the "Siege Of Leningrad" is repeated yet again - Shostakovich titled it "The Legendary" and not "The Leningrad", and it's a depiction of Stalin, as any fule kno). 

Bostridge delicately skips around the book's 1066-And-All-That conclusions that European music in the C20th died of Fire & The Sword (along with a surfeit of Communism) and that America is now Top Nation (sic).

I wonder if the Mods could look into providing a banging-head-against-wall smiley?

A desk isn't good enough, you want a wall as well now?

I think the TLS server was playing-up this morning - I lost the body text of the article later too.  It's back now if you want to retry - I'm not a subscriber either (I wouldn't pay money to Murdoch on principle )

Agreed entirely about Schoenberg in Ross's view, but the reason I mentioned Strauss and DSCH is that Bostridge's review actually cites these examples as though they're true    In the TLS, of all places?