Gwen John, St Thérèse of Liseux and her Sister. Photograph from Wikimedia. Following an essay on the MusikFest Berlin performance of Ligeti’s opera Le Grand Macabre, a report-essay on the world premiere of Yvonne Loriod’s oratorio Le Saint Face, touching on: Jean-Claude Touche, killed on the day of the Liberation of Paris, St Thérèse of Lisieux, Simone Weil, Olivier Messiaen, Gwen John. A preview below: the full piece is available to paying subscribers on the ambient evil of the Substack platform.Since the start of the year I’ve been working on and off on a book—which may or may not be...