Category Archive: MUSIC
Silliest Pop Song Lyrics: Ever!
“Swag swag swag, on you Chillin’ by the fire while we eating fondue…” (Boyfriend) “Someday you will find me Caught beneath the landslide In a champagne supernova in the sky” (Champagne Supernova) “Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak; Somewhere in this town…” (Jailbreak) “Well you’re built like a car You’ve got a hubcap diamond star halo You’re built like a car, oh yeah Well you’re an untamed youth That’s the truth with your cloak full of eagles You’re dirty sweet and you’re my girl Get it on, bang a gong, get it on” (Bang a Gong (Get it On)) …
Continue Reading →The Miracle of Beethoven
Painting by Josef Danhauser (1840) of Liszt playing to an audience of Dumas, Victor Hugo, George Sand, Paganini, Rossini and Marie d'Agoult. They are almost all regarding the bust of Beethoven beyond the piano
(December 1770 to 26 March 1827) There are 4 true giants of the classical canon, in whose shadow all remain. Bach, the master of complex form, is miraculous (though sometimes mercilessly boring). Mozart followed the rules (except, according to some, when he put in “too many notes”) but his dazzling musical talent, emotional intensity, daring and deep humanity brought classical music to the wider world. Wagner conceived of a new world of musical drama, and so created a new book of rules. But before the new rules, the old ones had to be broken. And work done that gloried in…
Continue Reading →The Art of Stalking
The New South Wales Police Force offers this regarding the crime of Stalking: Stalking is a crime…and…includes: ‘the following of a person about or the watching or frequenting of the vicinity of, or an approach to a person’s place of residence, business or work or any place that a person frequents for the purposes of any social or leisure activity’. Stalking involves a persistent course of conduct or actions by a person which are intended to maintain contact with or exercise power and control over another person. These actions cause distress, loss of control, fear or harassment to another person and occur…
Continue Reading →John Wegner – Abschied
John Wegner AO (16 January 1950 – 17 November 2019) The great Australian Heldenbaritone, John was born in Germany and came to Australia at the tender age of 5. He started working life as a teacher, but became involved in amateur musicals in his spare time. This led to a choral part in Meistersinger for Australian Opera, and he later joined the company (initially as a Bass) at the behest of Richard Bonynge. Eventually, he became a prominent Wagnerian, here and across Europe: inter alia, Klingsor in Parsifal, Wotan in the 1998 Ring in Adelaide (and at Düsseldorf), Telramund in…
Continue Reading →Wagner Returns (in shimmering gold and black)
Wagner Gala, Federation Concert Hall, Hobart, Tasmania, 2 November 2019 TVC descended on gloomy, beautiful Hobart for the much awaited return of Nina Stemme, currently the world’s greatest soprano (only the 2nd person to be awarded the Birgit Nilsson Prize, for those for whom awards matter), with the great bass baritone John Lundgren, who gave us a night of selected Wagnerian hits in concert format. Stemme made a big splash in Hobart in 2016 singing excerpts from Tristan und Isolde with Stuart Skelton. No Tristan this time unfortunately, but the programme was ideally suited to the leads: The Wotan and…
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