Writing

In print.

“Infatuation with Saturation,” The Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2025.
A review of William Eggleston: The Last Dyes.

“When Dylan went folk,” The Spectator, December 22, 2025.
On Bob Dylan and The Band’s Basement Tapes.

“The Who’s farewell tour marks the end of an era,” The Spectator (World Edition), October 27, 2025.
On the youthful spirit of The Who.

“Nick Drake’s explosive creativity,” The Spectator (World Edition), September 29, 2025.
On The Making of Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake.

“Exhibition note,” The New Criterion, September 2025.
On “Painted Gold: El Greco & Art between Crete & Venice” at the Palazzo Ducale, Venice.

“Prize & prejudice,” Literary Review, June 2025.
A review of Sister Europe by Nell Zink.

“Waco,” County Highway, July/August 2024.
On family, farming, and the Wild West history of a Texas town.

“A very cold war,” The New Criterion, May 2024.
A review of A Nasty Little War by Anna Reid.

“Georgia on his mind,” Literary Review, March 2024.
A review of Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili.

“The Rousseau of the Caucasus,” The New Criterion, December 2023.
On the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani.

“Land of ghosts and legends,” The Critic, March 2023.
On a journey into the Caucasus Mountains in search of crusaders and a city of the dead.

“Ice fishing in the Arctic,” The Spectator (World Edition), November, 2021.
On a fishing expedition in the Russian north.

Online.

“Inside Mahler’s Mind,” The Spectator (World Edition), August 27, 2025.
A review of Stephen Downes’s Gustav Mahler.

“Hearst Metrotone News Keeps History Alive,” The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2025.
On V.E. Day and America’s largest surviving archive of newsreel films.

“Cry, uncle,” The New Criterion, January 29, 2025.
On a production of Uncle Vanya directed by Matthew Gasda.

“An Aspen notebook,” The New Criterion, October 2, 2024.
On the closing weekend of the Aspen Music Festival.

“A Colorado Nozze,” The New Criterion, September 6, 2024.
On a performance of Le nozze di Figaro at the Aspen Music Festival.

“Soviet-Era Treasures Burn in Tbilisi,” The Wall Street Journal, Opinions, September 11, 2023.
On a fire at a Georgian film-storage facility.

“Village people,” The New Criterion, September 1, 2023.
On Jack Serio’s production of Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov.

“Race to the Finnish,” The New Criterion, July 25, 2023.
On the first night of the BBC Proms.

“Empire burlesque,” The New Criterion, June 27, 2023.
On “Komar and Melamid: A Lesson in History” at the Zimmerli Art Museum in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

“Keeping the vigil,” The New Criterion, May 15, 2023.
On a 1965 recording of Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil and a recent performance by the Clarion Choir at Carnegie Hall..

“Child’s play,” The New Criterion, December 16, 2022.
On a recital by the pianist Daniil Trifonov at Carnegie Hall.

“Out of the woods,” The New Criterion, October 27, 2022.
On a performance of Mahler and Ortiz by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.

“Going underground,” The New Criterion, August 9, 2022.
On a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 in the Green-Wood Cemetery catacombs.

“Storm warning,” The New Criterion, May 26, 2022.
On a production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters at the Sheen Center, New York.

“Distant planets,” The New Criterion, February 2, 2022.
On a concert of Britten, Elgar, and Holst by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

“In memoriam,” The New Criterion, November 8, 2021.
On “Celebrating Arvo Pärt,” at the Met’s Temple of Dendur in New York.

“Absence & reunion,” The New Criterion, June 10, 2021.
On a performance of four Beethoven sonatas at New York’s Saint Thomas Church.

“Local boy makes bad,” The New Criterion, July 21, 2020.
On a visit to the Joseph Stalin Museum in Gori, Georgia.