30 MAY 1992, page 31

His Master's Voice

Rupert Christiansen PETER PEARS by Christopher Headington Faber, £20, pp. 351 4 1 am sensitive and not a fool singer', the young Peter Pears reflected in 1936. 'How wrong it is......

On The Ascension

Ah, holy shepherd, how can you leave your flock alone here weeping, deep in the valley, dark, while you break through the pure air of the sky home to eternity? They were so......

Not Everything Succeeds In Excess

Cressida Connolly THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS by Ernesto Sabato Cape, £15.99, pp. 435 T he Angel of Darkness is the literary equivalent of a painting by Francis Bacon. It is troubled......