John Shand | Music & Other Spheres Posts

January 12, 2015 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Fairmont Resort, January 11 Twenty-four hours of insistent rain washed away all hope of Sport For Jove’s The Crucible going ahead in the intended outdoor setting at Leura Everglades, and the twisting road to the alternate venue at the Fairmont Resort was so shrouded in fog as to bewilder even…

January 9, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Joy In Spite Of Everything (ECM) The title of Easy Healing is perfect: a pick-me-up song riding on a breeze of calypso charm. Stefano Bollani, the exceptional Italian pianist long associated with Enrico Rava, could well have written this with Bill Frisell in mind, so perfectly does the guitarist’s elfin…

December 22, 2014 / Concert Reviews - Archive

The Sound Lounge, December 13 Even music, the most abstract of the arts, can sometimes be too concrete. You can feel it clawing for the spaces between notes and yearning for the tyranny of rhythm to be blurred. The former is impossible on a piano, but not a synthesizer, and…