A sense of love and lightness lingers after this eighth album has run its course.

Tranquillity triumphs on the erudite Canadian’s latest album.

A lovely piece of programming, tenderly performed.

Demands to be heard by all lovers of Berlioz's best-known orchestral work.

Rich and hugely enjoyable performances.

An overwhelmingly joyous account of one of Mozart’s lesser-known operas.

A fresh-feeling recording of ear-popping brilliance.

Uchida's measured approach reaps rewards, capturing the joy in this life-affirming music.

The first step on what seems to be a joyous journey for the Norwegian pianist.

Vinci’s final opera possesses extraordinary energy and some beautiful moments.

The most exciting and consistently well-sung Don Giovanni to appear for several years.

Schiff transcends all questions of instrumentation to deliver a pure experience.

Fluently stylish and idiomatic, these performers live and breathe Bach's music.

The pair exhibits a refined style on these illuminating performances.

This sensitive, dynamic recording is a joy, and may even constitute a revelation.

In its own way, the Seven Words of Christ is just as sublime as the Stabat Mater.

This joyous set of Beethoven's sonatas takes its place among the very best.

Bolan’s brilliance came through clearly on T. Rex’s seventh LP.

First new album for three years from Cleveland’s famously experimental sons.

An absolute tour de force of an album from an artist with nothing left to lose.

A justified addition to the many Rumours already making the rounds.

Cope’s solo standout, and a record he’d naturally never repeat.

Foxx’s third Maths-assisted set is probably his best post-Ultravox LP.

A tantalising glimpse of how Hendrix's genius might have progressed.

How the US and China have handled the coronavirus contagion and the secret history of Labor's election debacle.

Is the government pulling the right levers to mitigate the economic impact of Covid-19. How long can the Australian economy survive shut downs before we tip into irreparable damage? 

Hear from the chair of Infection Control at the National University Hospital in Singapore, who says home isolation is impossible to enforce, and everyone who tests positive for coronavirus should be isolated in hospitals or in designated hotels until they recover. Plus, veteran British historian Max Hastings discusses his new history of the World War Two Dambusters raid.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has told the army to shoot to kill anyone who violates strict COVID-19 lockdowns. Has he gone too far, or is this just more of the strong-man machismo that made him so popular? We talk to Sheila Coronel, Professor of Investigative Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School. Also, why don't Australian prime ministers leave quietly? Australia has had 30 prime ministers since its Federation in 1901. According to political historian Norman Abjorensen they all have one thing in common: a marked reluctance to relinquish power.

What impact will Boris’ bout of COVID-19 have on his leadership and the nation’s fight against the virus?  His former boss, political columnist Charles Moore weighs in. Later in the program Moore discusses his best-selling three volume biography of Margaret Thatcher. Was the Iron Lady really an eco-warrior? Would she have supported Brexit?

Weighing up Turnbull’s legacy This week, former Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull published his memoir A Bigger Picture.  In it he settles old scores with colleagues over his 2018 ousting, which he describes as an “act of madness.” What is his legacy, and how will history judge our nation’s twenty ninth Prime Minister? Jacqueline Maley, columnist at The Sydney Morning Herald. Jennifer Oriel, columnist at The Australian   And, the death of a führer April 30th marks seventy-five years since Hitler’s suicide. Cambridge historian Brendan Simms challenges past scholarship on the führer, and argues that Hitler saw Anglo-American global capitalism, not Bolshevism – as Germany’s real enemy. He says this philosophical link reveals worrying connections between Hitler and the rise of populism today. Brendan Simms, Professor in the History of International Relations at Cambridge University, and author of Hitler: Only the World was Enough.  

How do we revive the economy once the pandemic passes? Coronavirus has Australia headed for a deep recession, so what can we do now to plan our way out of it? Is the answer more government intervention and state planning? Or, is now the time to launch a new reform agenda that sharpens the incentives to work, save, invest and hire? And, Alexander Downer: “I don’t know what China’s problem is” Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for an investigation into the origins of the virus. But China’s Ambassador in Canberra upped the stakes this week by threatening a trade and tourism boycott of Australia. Australia’s longest serving Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer says China’s Cold War style rhetoric will backfire on it, and it is in everyone’s interests to investigate the origins of the virus. But as we head into recession, can we afford to aggravate our largest trade partner?

Sweden's virus experiment: death sentence, or a way forward?

If your government failed to provide running water, electricity, roads, safety from gender violence, or other staples of everyday life, what would you do? In the Solomon Islands people are taking matters into their own hands, even schoolgirls. If their government can’t provide, they’ll try.

Flying a light plane to pick up bread from the local bakery is not something most Australians can relate to, but it is the unique reality for some who call Central Australia home.

Floodwaters more than 50 kilometres wide came through Queensland's Channel Country earlier this year, but the extended weather forecast is not promising a return to average rainfalls.

Floodwaters that crippled North Queensland's cattle industry have turned the Channel Country further downstream into a landscape of dramatic contrasts.

Three-dimensional zebra crossings have turned up in Iceland, England and even the tiny outback town of Boulia in Queensland and now one Sydney council is exploring whether it could join the trend.

The outback Queensland town of Barcaldine has officially set a new world record for the longest line of motorhomes.

When outback pioneering single mother Mary Emmott started rainfall records in 1914 she had no idea how important they would be.