Prom 64: Berlin Philharmonic, Rattle

PROM 64: BERLIN PHILHARMONIC, RATTLE Superlative devil in the detail of a multi-layered Mahler Seventh Symphony

Superlative devil in the detail of a multi-layered Mahler Seventh Symphony

What do Boulez's Éclat, for 15 instruments, and Mahler's Seventh Symphony, for over 100, have in common? Most obviously, guitar and mandolin, symbols of a wider interest in unusual sonorities. But while Boulez aims, as often, for needle point precision, Mahler uses selective groups, at least up to his finale when he exuberantly exchanges night for day, to create peculiar and unsettling grades of chiaroscuro.

theartsdesk Q&A: Musician/DJ Mark Hawkins aka Marquis Hawkes

THE ARTS DESK Q&A: MUSICIAN-DJ MARK HAWKINS AKA MARQUIS HAWKES The eye-popping back story of Houndstooth Records' house sensation

The eye-popping back story of Houndstooth Records' house sensation

This is not a standard dance music story. Marquis Hawkes is one of the club music success stories of the past couple of years – since the first release in 2012 on Glasgow's revered Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, there've been many 12" club hits on multiple connoisseurs' labels, and his album Social Housing on the Fabric club's Houndstooth label has soundtracked many people's summer this year, with the artist all the while remaining anonymous.

Proms at...Cadogan Hall: Hardenberger, Gruber, ASMF

PROMS AT...CADOGAN HALL: HARDENBERGER, GRUBER, ASMF Classy not-quite-easy-listening from Berlin, Vienna and Stockholm, with love

Classy not-quite-easy-listening from Berlin, Vienna and Stockholm, with love

Superior light music with a sting, done at the highest level: what could be better for a summer lunchtime in the light and airy Cadogan Hall? Our curator was that most collegial of top soloists, trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger. He'd invited colleagues of many nations, all of them first rate, but it was almost a given that chansonnier-composer HK Gruber would steal the show.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Simple Minds

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY: SIMPLE MINDS Exhaustive box set dedicated to 1982’s pivotal ‘New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)’

Exhaustive box set dedicated to 1982’s pivotal ‘New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)’

As the album featuring Simple Minds’ first Top Twenty single, “Promised You a Miracle”, 1982’s New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) was aptly titled. After the success of the next single “Glittering Prize”, it hit number three in the album charts. Five albums in and three years after their first single, Simple Minds were indeed touching gold.

X-Men: Apocalypse

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE Are we suffering from a surfeit of superheroes?

Are we suffering from a surfeit of superheroes?

It's getting mighty crowded in the superhero lounge. After the underwhelming Batman v Superman and the overwhelming Captain America: Civil War, here's the X-Men posse back on the warpath, once again under the bombastic helmsmanship of Bryan Singer.

Europe: Them or Us, BBC Two

EUROPE: THEM OR US, BBC TWO Nick Robinson tiptoes cautiously through the minefield of Britain's relations with Europe

Nick Robinson tiptoes cautiously through the minefield of Britain's relations with Europe

The BBC opened its examination of the history of European togetherness with presenter Nick Robinson beaming at us from the top of those White Cliffs, looking out at the glistening sea which made us an island (until, of course, Mrs Thatcher supported the Channel Tunnel).

theartsdesk in Berlin: Three Ballets

THEARTSDESK IN BERLIN: THREE BALLETS Versatile Staatsballett shine in Cranko, Duato, and a classic Giselle

Versatile Staatsballett shine in Cranko, Duato, and a classic Giselle

In London, seeing the same ballet company do three different pieces in three different theatres over four nights would be some kind of festival. In Berlin, it's just business as usual – albeit quite a busy week! – for the hard-working Staatsballett.

Victoria

VICTORIA A single-shot Berlin marvel which grips and moves

A single-shot Berlin marvel which grips and moves

The tag-line for this definitively audacious Berlin thriller-love story writes itself: “One take. One night. Who survives?” Director Sebastian Schipper filmed Victoria in one take that roams through dozens of locations in Berlin’s empty small-hours streets, with dialogue improvised by his core young cast of five. Hitchcock tried something similar, editing Rope’s 10-minute takes to simulate continuous action much as Birdman did, while Orson Welles’ long, bravura opening shot in Touch of Evil was emulated at Boogie Nights’ start.

Deutschland 83, Series Finale, Channel 4

DEUTSCHLAND 83, SERIES FINALE, CHANNEL 4 Reverse take on spy drama fraught with family upsets keeps the interest

Reverse take on spy drama fraught with family upsets keeps the interest

Martin Rauch-stroke-Moritz Stamm, the reluctant spy who by the end of the final, double episode of this eight-parter had achieved more than most in that profession, managed the ultimate last night: he came in from the cold. In a series whose refrain could almost have been “You can’t go home again”, there he was back at the domestic hearth as if nothing had happened (except that his mother Ingrid was healed). Idyllic ending? The irony heavy in the air, of course, was that five years or so later the home he had come back to – East Germany – would itself cease to exist.