John Shand Posts

May 22, 2018 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Boiler House, May 5 7/10 This was both refreshing and vaguely nostalgic, because in this fast-forward world it has become so rare to encounter art of any sort that takes its time – like Mozart operas, 19th-century novels or ’60s jazz improvisations. Here was music that dared to spend 15…

May 20, 2018 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Blue Mountains Theatre, May 4 7.5/10 You know when you turn the gas down low, so the flame has that singular violet luminescence? Joseph Tawadros’s solo oud features have that quality. Like a cello, the instrument has an innate, dignified melancholy. Meanwhile Tawadros crafts a note’s shape and weight, along…

May 19, 2018 / Concert Reviews - Archive

People’s Republic of Australasia, May 2 9/10 I’ve lived through earthquakes, cyclones, blizzards, floods, bushfires and now a Peter Brotzmann concert. On the one hand the veteran German saxophonist’s playing is of such ferocity as to seem a force of nature, and yet on the other it is so profoundly…