John Shand | Music & Other Spheres Posts

March 31, 2017 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Belvoir St Theatre, March 1 9/10 Hating and vengeance are choices. Nothing, however heinous, obliges one to hate. Mary-Ellen Field had every right to be twisted and embittered. Having been accused of leaking Elle Macpherson’s private life to the British tabloid press she watched her health crash, her career unravel…

March 29, 2017 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Concert Hall, March 2 8/10 It said “Trevor Ashley” on the ticket. If the Opera House did this sort of thing it would have echoed this in three-metre-high pink neon letters out the front, too. But she certainly sounded like Shirley Bassey – sorry, Dame Shirley Bassey – as she…

March 22, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

VICISSITUDES (Rattle) 8.5/10 This is how it can work. For all the attempts to combine jazz and classical elements in a piece of music, few have even begun to succeed. The most common fault is that the classical dimension is static and subservient to the fluid improvising one. Of course…