Time for one of the richest, strangest things in all music: Alban Berg’s Lulu. The sumptuous, seductive beauty of the score; its gaudy, trashy plot; its technical sophistication; its profound exploration of memory and death — I’ve loved it from the moment I first heard it.

Detest the terms ‘comfort reading’, ‘escapism’ & ‘guilty pleasure’ — read whatever the hell you like, why ever you like. I’m as likely to escape into Arthur Conan Doyle as László Krasznahorkai or find comfort and pleasure (and lord knows what else) in Borges, Beckett or a Brontë.

Writer, broadcaster, composer: Robert Simpson was a giant of British music. His symphonies and string quartets are astounding, terrifying wonders — the 9th quartet is especially stunning, a vast 50-minute palindrome and one of the great chamber works of the twentieth century.

Suspect I will have to write an essay on Jon Fosse’s Septology soon: a book of such dark wonder and addictive power it spends more time in my hands than on the bookshelf. Strongly recommended — but not if you have anything else to do (eating, sleeping) in the coming days.

In the next of my essays on music, books and film, Elizabeth Maconchy’s wonderful Fifth String Quartet — one of her finest, and a work that bears comparison with the best from Bartók, Bacewicz and Shostakovich. (Link to essay in bio.)

As it’s the moon’s big day, a reminder of a great lunar opera: Janáček’s The Excursions of Mr. Brouček to the Moon and to the 15th Century (1920). It is completely barmy, a riot of fun, and full of some exquisite music, including the wonderful moon waltzes and dances.

I am reading my own book with a rainbow and a martini. I am awful.

In the first of my essays on music, books and film, Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob — one of the great novels of the century, and for me a work to rank with Ulysses, Pale Fire, The Tale of Genji or À la recherche du temps perdu. A literary masterpiece. (Link to essay in bio.)

So many recordings of Winterreise I adore, but this one is very special indeed. The artistry, the depth of emotion…

Starting this weekend, I will be writing a series of essays on music, books and film. Will post links here but sign up for an email alert (link in bio above). First up, thoughts on what I think one of the greatest novels of the century so far: Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob.

Mishima’s politics and bizarre death tend to obsess people, overshadowing his immense achievements as a writer of fiction. Hoping my book on his novels will dispel a few myths and re-engage people with his work. Recommend Spring Snow or Temple of the Golden Pavilion to newcomers.

Schubert’s sonatas are one of the great glories of music. The depth of emotion is astonishing — they seem to be x-rays into his very soul, showing us all his agony and ecstasy, transcendence and suffering. Pure piano poetry.

My book Beauty and Sadness: Mahler’s 11 Symphonies has a chapter on each of these extraordinary works, with an essay exploring their background and interpretation, followed by a jargon-free movement-by-movement guide to the music. Mahler’s granddaughter Marina wrote the foreword.

Having a bit of a Martin Amis binge at the moment. One of the great writers of the 20th / 21st centuries — the magnificent heir to Joyce, Nabokov, Bellow and Borges. Hard to pick just one novel of course, but if you read only one, make it Money.

Sibelius’s Fourth was premiered on this day in 1911. Froward, alien, intense — it is an austere masterpiece, with glimmers of light, standing at the literal and symbolic centre of Sibelius’s art. It wields a magnetic power, an elemental persuasiveness. A stunning symphony.

Perilous breakfast with my novel of the century so far…

The only orchestra Klaus Mäkelä is not currently music director of is the Pucklechurch Philharmonic.

One of the best contemporary memoirs I’ve read for years. A Flat Place offers exceptional life writing and wonderful nature writing: brutal, honest, intimate; connecting landscape, mind and history in complex, often radical or surprising ways. An unforgettable book.

Bruno Walter's 1938 Mahler 9 is a key cultural and historical document. Not only a crucial record of this great symphony by its first interpreter, but an eternal resistance to the brutality that followed: the purging of the VPO of its Jewish members, including Walter himself.

My own personal #HallOfFame ?

1. Mahler Symphony 9
2. Beethoven String Quartet 14
3. Wagner Parsifal
4. Bach St Matthew Passion
5. Sibelius Symphony 7
6. Mahler Das Lied von der Erde
7. Beethoven Sonata 32
8. Sibelius Symphony 4
9. Schubert Winterreise
10. Britten Death in Venice