John Shand | Music & Other Spheres Posts

March 5, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Manhattan Moonrise (Cuneiform) The past is a big place filled with music. Some players cling to it like a security blanket; others fool themselves that they can invent new sounds out of thin air. The smart ones use the past as a resource: an infinite library from which to steal…

March 4, 2015 / Features - Archive

John Shand talks to STC artistic director Andrew Upton about his forthcoming production of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, starring Hugo Weaving as Hamm, Tom Budge as Clov, Bruce Spence as Nagg and Sarah Peirse as Nell. JS: The current fashion of not just reinterpreting but reinventing the classics is denied to…

March 1, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Sentimentale (Resonance) Between the title and the gauche cover many could be turned away from this album, which would be a shame, because the contents are delightful. Frenchman Richard Galliano has few if any peers on the accordion, and here his virtuosity and melodic flair are at full stretch realising…