My best movies, music, books, etc, of 2023

As you may be aware, I’ve posted my personal ‘best of the year’ lists ever since I started writing here in 2016, and each time I’ve felt moved to mention the parlous state both of the UK and of the world in general. This last year saw no improvement on either front, which means that the arts, like love and friendship (and I don’t mean Whit Stillman’s excellent film), have continued to be a major source of solace as well as pleasure. If only our politicians and funding bodies recognised their value and importance…

I watched more films than last year – though still fewer than I used to before Covid struck – but (as ever) very little television. I again listened to a lot of music and went to an unprecedented amount of concerts; I still can’t believe how many wonderful concerts by top-flight musicians didn’t make it into my top 25! The number of books I read was diminished by a focus on Proust at the start of the year; I caught a fair few exhibitions (though not the Impressionists on Paper show as yet). My year was darkened by the deaths of too many people I’d worked with in the film world. There was also the (to me, unexpected) loss of one of Britain’s greatest filmmakers – Terence Davies, whom I had long counted as a friend – and, in music, of Carla Bley, whom I never quite met but somehow always felt would go on, on, and on… and then one day.

On a brighter note, here are some of the things that I enjoyed the most in 2023. I hope you too will be able to derive pleasure from some of them.

New films (15, in order of preference):

That They May Face the Rising Sun (Pat Collins)*

On the Adamant (Nicolas Philibert)

Close Your Eyes (Víctor Erice)

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Radu Jude)

Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki)

Igor Levit – No Fear (Regina Schilling)

A Quiet Girl (Colm Bairéad) 

Last Summer (Catherine Breillat)

May December (Todd Haynes)

The Goldman Trial (Cédric Kahn)

The Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris)

Black Box (Asli Özge)

Mambar Pierette (Rosine Mbakam)

Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese)

Maestro (Bradley Cooper)**

* I realise hardly anyone has yet had a chance to see my number-one film of the year, which played in the London Film Festival. But since I believe it has a strong possibility of a release in the UK (and, I hope, other territories) in 2024, and since I do think it is quite extraordinarily fine, I went ahead and listed it anyway, so that you will be on the lookout for it.

** I really wasn’t sure whether I should include this or another biopic: Michael Mann’s Ferrari. Both films have many virtues and some flaws, but music-lover that I am, Cooper’s rare conscientiousness on that front finally took precedence. Both films felt more persuasive to me than Justine Triet’s highly praised and in some ways impressive but finally implausible and contrived Anatomy of a Fall; still, Sandra Hüller surely deserves a name-check.

Older films (10, in alphabetical order):

And Everything Is Going Fine (Steven Soderbergh) 

The Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (Yasujiro Ozu)

Deadly Run (Claude Miller)

National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)

The Only Son (Yasujiro Ozu)

Passionate Stranger (Muriel Box)

Spoiled Children (Bertrand Tavernier)

The Structure of Crystal (Krzysztof Zanussi)

Twilight (György Fehér)

Walkover (Jerzy Skolimowski)

I intended to restrict filmmakers to one mention only, but in the case of Ozu felt I simply had to make an exception. (Had I indulged myself further, I would have included more of his work.)

Small screen (in order seen): 

Slow Horses, Series 2 & 3 (Saul Metzstein).

Michael Tippett, The Shadow and the Light (John Bridcut)

Close to Vermeer (Suzanne Raes)

Command Z (Steven Soderbergh)

New Albums:

‘Classical’ (15, roughly in order of release):

András Schiff: Clavichord – JS Bach (ECM)

Lars Vogt, Christian & Tanja Tetzlaff: Schubert – Piano Trios, etc (Ondine)

Stephen Hough: Federico Mompou – Música callada (Hyperion)

Jörg Widmann, Hagen Quartet: Mozart & Widmann Clarinet Quintets (Myriad)

Danish String Quartet: Prism V – Beethoven, Webern, Bach (ECM)

Various: Emily Howard – Torus (NMC)

Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel: Thomas Adès –  Dante (Nonesuch)

Florian Boesch, Malcolm Martineau: Schumann – Dichterliebe, Kerner Lieder (Linn)

Igor Levit: Fantasia (Sony)

Marc-André Hamelin: Gabriel Fauré – Nocturnes & Barcarolles (Hyperion)

Christian & Tanja Tetzlaff, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Paavo Järvi: In Memoriam Lars Vogt – Brahms, Viotti, Dvorák (Ondine)

Various: Thomas Larcher – The Living Mountain (ECM)

Steven Osborne: Debussy – Études, etc (Hyperion)

Various: Luke Bedford –  In the Voices of the Living (NMC)

Cédric Tiberghien: Variation(s) Volume 1 – Beethoven et al (Harmonia Mundi)

Other (5, roughly in order of release):

Bobo Stenson Trio: Sphere (ECM)

Nils Økland, Sigbjørn Apeland: Glimmer (ECM)

Sinikka Langeland: Wind and Sun (ECM)

Frode Haltli: Avant Folk – Triptyk (Jazzland)

Tyshawn Sorey Trio: Continuing (Pi)***

It is still too soon to decide whether Nitai Herszhkovits’ Call on the old wise (ECM) should have made my top five. And were it not recorded so long ago, this year’s release of Graham Collier’s Down Another Road @ Stockholm Jazz Days ’69 (My Only Desire) could have made the list.

*** Very hard to choose between Continuing and the slightly more conventional Mesmerism (also Pi) – both are highly recommended, though the former illustrates the trio’s rhythmic audacity rather more clearly – so do try to check out both.

Live music:

Classical concerts (25, in chronological order):

Steven Osborne, LPO, Edward Gardner: Tippett, Elgar, Coleridge-Taylor, RFH, 25/1

Arditti Quartet, Jake Arditti: R Reynolds, U Chin, Xenakis, S-I Koch, H Paredes, Wigmore, 3/2

Christian Gerhaher, Gerold Huber: H Holliger, Wolf, R Schumann, Schoeck, Wigmore, 12/2

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, LSO, François-Xavier Roth: Ligeti, Beethoven, Barbican, 16/2

JACK Quartet: E Gee, C Burhans, E Wubbels, J Zorn, Wigmore, 22/4

Mark Padmore, Pavel Kolesnikov, Elias Quartet: Haydn, Fauré, Vaughan Williams, Wigmore, 2/5

Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau: Schubert (Winterreise), Wigmore, 8/5

Christian Tetzlaff, LSO, LS Chorus & soloists, François-Xavier Roth: J Widmann, Beethoven, Barbican, 4/6

Pavel Haas Quartet: Schubert, Dvorák, Wigmore, 15/5

Christoph Prégardien, Julius Drake: Schubert, LIszt, Wolf, Grieg, Beethoven, Loewe, Wigmore, 5/7

Brooklyn Rider: K Azmeh, G L Frank, R Esmail, E Ziporyn, K Sanna, C Jacobsen, Wigmore, 8/7

Stephen Hough: Mompou, Debussy, Skryabin, S Hough, Liszt, Wigmore, 7/9

Anna Prohaska, Ensemble Modern, George Benjamin: Varèse, S Haddad, Ravel, Bach arr. Benjamin, Schoenberg, Wigmore, 12/9

Marc-André Hamelin: Ives, R Schumann, Ravel, Fauré, Wigmore, 24/9

Alina Ibragimova, Boris Giltburg: Ravel, Prokofiev, Wigmore, 12/10

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Tim Gill, London Sinfonietta, Vimbayi Kaziboni: Ligeti, Nancarrow, U Chin, QEH, 14/10

Takács Quartet: Haydn, Bartók, Ravel, Wigmore, 16/10

Ning Feng: Ysaye, Paganini, Wigmore, 19/10

András Schiff, Christophe Coin: Bach, Haydn, Schubert, Wigmore, 23/10

Timothy Ridout: C Shaw, Telemann, S Beamish, G Kurtág, Britten, Bach, Wigmore, 27/10

Elisabeth Brauss: Schubert, Ravel, R Schumann, Wigmore, 30/10

Jean-Guihen Queyras: Bach, Saygun, Britten, G Kurtág, Wigmore, 20/11

Benjamin Grosvenor, Hyeyoon Park, Timothy Ridout, Kian Soltani: Bridge, Fauré, Brahms, R Schumann, Wigmore, 28/11  

Belcea Quartet: Schubert, Dvorák, Bartók, Debussy, Wigmore, 10/12

Janine Jansen, Timothy Ridout, Daniel Blendulf, Denis Kozhukhin: Brahms, Wigmore, 21/12

I have for the most part allowed musicians one listing only, even though some might conceivably have featured more than once. The exception I made is for violist Timothy Ridout, whom I not only caught in two marvellous ‘superstar quartet’ performances, but in a truly remarkable solo recital. I should also add special mentions for two pianists: the then 18-year-old Yunchan Lim, whose playing of Dowland, Bach, Liszt and especially Beethoven at the Wigmore Hall in January was astonishingly fine; and Igor Levit, whose performance of Schumann and Brahms there in July (at a Friends of the Hall lunchtime event) was as impressive as ever.

Opera (5, in chronological order):

Saariaho: Innocence, Royal Opera House, April

Berg: Wozzeck Royal Opera House, June

Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites,  Glyndebourne production at BBC Proms, August

Kurtág: Endgame, BBC Proms, August

Benjamin: Picture a day like this, Royal Opera House, September

Other notable concerts:

Christian McBride, Rhiannon Giddens, Francesco Turrisi, Wigmore, 17/7

Arve Henriksen, Anders Jormin, Sinikka Langeland, Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putnins, Stockholm Berwaldhallen, 31/8

Tyshawn Sorey Trio, King’s Place, 17/11

Craig Taborn, Vortex, 26/11 (pictured at top)

Books (10)

Josephine Tey: To Love and Be Wise

Annie Ernaux: The Years

Evan S Connell: Mrs Bridge (and/or Mr Bridge)

Laura Cumming: Thunderclap – A memoir of art and life & sudden death

Friedrich Dürrenmatt: The Pledge – Requiem for the Detective Novel

Hjalmar Söderbergh: Doctor Glas

Elizabeth Strout: Amy and Isabelle

George Gissing: Denzil Quarrier

John McGahern: That They May Face the Rising Sun

Claire Keegan: So Late in the Day

Exhibitions (5)

Cézanne (Tate)

Giorgio Morandi: Masterpieces from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation (Estorick Collection) 

Frans Hals (National Gallery)

Val Wilmer: Blue Moments, Black Sounds – A Retrospective (Worldly, Wicked and Wise Gallery, Queen’s Park)

Liotard and the Laverne Family Breakfast (National Gallery)

Finally, here are some photos of some other highlights of the year for me. No captions; I’ll let you guess why they might be somehow important for me. (Answers on a postcard, please.) And I wish you all the best for 2024.