Anyone for a spot of acoustic science? Apparently the distinctive colour of a musical note is concentrated almost wholly in the attack: the first split-second; the beginning of the sound wave. Obscure or somehow cut off, that first bite of a note or chord and what’s left sounds – well, not the same as everything else, exactly, but a great deal more samey. It’s like wine-tasting while holding your nose. Everything becomes neutral, and suddenly it’s remarkably easy to fool the senses.

The Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino seems to enjoy playing these games. In Le voci sottevetro (1999) – four arrangements of works by the homicidal madrigalist Carlo Gesualdo – a quick splash of tuned percussion does the job of hiding the start of a line. What’s left hangs softly in the air, vibrating and almost unidentifiable as any specific instrument. True, you can work it out by looking: Sciarrino uses only eight players, and his three woodwinds (bass flute, cor anglais and bass clarinet) are calculated choices. But still, there it is, that sound, and you can’t quite tell what you’re hearing. It’s destabilising; uncanny.

Oh the joy of watching Keir Starmer descend into fury!

The hateful posts of yet another Green party candidate

Christopher........

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