Sunset

Sunset today

Who can resist them, beautiful sunsets?

The sunset this evening was a stunner, with the gods shining a red torch on the undersides of the lumpy grey clouds transforming them into a sight to gasp at.  Then five minutes later they switched the torch off and it was all over ...

Education and Brexit: Go the Scots!

Those with more education vote to stay
(Guardian newspaper)

The Scots have a very long tradition of respect for education, believing that everyone from the top to the bottom of the social spectrum, both girls and boys, should have a decent education.
 

'In August 1560 the ... Scotland [became] a Protestant country. The Reformed Scottish Church recognised that education had to be a national priority, both for its intrinsic worth but also to ensure everyone could read the Bible.' [from: University of Edinburgh website]

This eventually lead to the enlightenment in the eighteen century, earlier than most of Europe.

Education is still important in Scotland and I suspect that this has had an effect on the Scots vote to remain in Europe. A more educated population is not as easy to mislead and the Scots may well thank their system in future years if it enables them to continue to reap the benefits that a European common market delivers.

Unknown creator (from Facebook!)

As I write, it is not yet clear whether England will actually leave the EU although the European politicians, understandably tired of being continually poked in the eye by the UK,  are urging them to take their bat and ball and leave. It looks as if it might be crunch time for the Brexit politicians locally as well now that all their posturing is shown to have been built on untruths.

Deservedly unloved on both sides of the channel.

Britain Brexits

They Brexited and everyone seems to be in a state of shock, though I don't know why. It seems to me that the British people have been skeptical about the value of Europe for a long time.

I was brought up in a pro-British household where grandmother still called England 'home', so I was amazed when I lived in Europe to discover how behind the times the English were. Whenever there was a proposed change for more equality, for example for women, it always seemed to be the British holding back the change. Ever since then I have wondered whether a Brexit might actually help Europe (though I feel sorry for the British).

The British view of Germans continues to be one influenced by war propaganda and the TV series Hogans Heros. - so they think Germans are evil or buffoons. An English friend who teaches German in an English school told me that when the soccer world cup was held in Germany, English reporters sent reports back saying 'People here are actually quite cultured.'  They were astonished that the German police danced in the streets with the crowds.

The elites have obviously found it in their best interest to keep the uneducated uneducated, all the while ripping them off unconscionably. Why are they surprised when the hens come home to roost? As someone immediately wrote on my twitter feed The United Kingdom 1707 - 2016. 

Addendum on 25June:  this morning I heard Sadiq Khan, new Major of London, say that over the past 20 years whenever a Prime Minister has gone to Europe to negotiate a deal, they have come home and criticised the EU.  I thought it a very valid point and now I wonder how they will manage without this convenient whipping boy.

APQ plays Liebestod

The woman in the seat next to me at the Australia Piano Quartet concert at the Sydney Opera House Utzon Room yesterday was reduced to tears by their playing of the Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. As she blew her nose afterwards and tried to recompose herself, I reflected on the power of music to move us. The piece had been arranged by the APQ for quartet so there was no soprano, but this music is so evocative that an instrumental version played by a virtuoso group like the APQ is capable of exciting extreme emotional response.

Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat Major (Anna de Silva Chen joined the group as second violin) followed Liebestod. Wonderful music played with passion.

Lang Lang in Sydney

Lang Lang at the Sydney Opera House last night
(Photo by Christie Brewster from SSO Facebook page)

I saw virtuoso pianist Lang Lang play Tchaikovsky, Bach and Chopin last night and I have been trying to find a suitable noun to describe him ever since.  He is virtuosic of course and he is young and he is charming, but still there is so much more to him. I have decided the word is 'tender'. He plays the piano with such tenderness, even when he is playing Chopin's fiery Scherzi.

I was sitting in a box opposite the piano so although I couldn't see his hands on the keyboard I had a good view of his extraordinarily expressive face as he played. He smiles a lot, finding all sorts of amusement in the music. His body moves and jumps as it reflects the stories he is telling with his hands.

I was entranced to see his hands when he lifted one or other off the keyboard occasionally because they hovered like expressive, relaxed, floating flowers describing the melody in the air.  His audience couldn't help be captivated.

He is a remarkable ambassador for classical music, one of those rare pianists who can fill the opera house concert hall twice over (he is playing mostly Grieg next Saturday).  He is very keen for the next generation to learn the beauties of classical music and has developed an app to encourage them. How many other classical musicians have developed an app to help youngsters learn (or any app at all actually)? That says so much about him.

Oh warmth!

"Don't throw it away before you need to, you just create more landfill," said the technician when I told him my heat pump was no longer working as it should.

The first arctic blast of winter blew through last weekend and I had rung him for advice. This house, like so many in Australia, is very cold in winter (I measured 9C inside on Saturday and we still have autumn) and the heat pump struggled to bring the temperature up to 15C.

When the technician saw the unit he said it was probably 20 years old and the company that made it (Sharp) no longer existed. In an old house everything seems to need replacing at once and, like the guttering, the heat pump was overdue. So I bit the bullet and ordered a new one - a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries split system. 

This morning it was installed and yaaay, I have heat!  The new system is much quieter than the old and probably much more energy efficient as well. It heats, cools, and generally just hangs out on the wall.

Ikea-Meccano

I am a sucker for Ikea build-it-yourself furniture. My favorite toy as a child was a Meccano set and Ikea is Meccano for adults. I doubt I would be so tempted by Ikea furniture if I didn't have to screw it together and, like Meccano, know that the bits fit together faultlessly.

After building kitchen cupboards a couple of years ago there has been a hiatus but last week I gave away the small bar table to a student who needs to stand at her computer instead of sitting all day.  As a replacement I bought an island bench.

Ikea staff had to help me load the three heavy boxes into the car and I drove home carefully, aware that they could become lethal missiles in an accident.  By the time I had them in the kitchen at home I was too tired to think, but still I couldn't resist opening the boxes and reading the assembly instructions before I went to bed.

Kitchen 2016

The island bench is easy to construct but you end with it upside down. It was far to heavy for me to turn over, even with ingenuity, but my friendly neighbour and her son came to my rescue. Once it was the right way up we stood admiring it and asking ourselves why the kitchen looks much bigger with this big bench than it did with the small bar table. It has made a remarkable difference.

Kitchen 2013

Riveting playing by the Australian Chamber Orchestra

The Australian Chamber Orchestra is a phenomenon.

Last week I saw them play a concert of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven's Grosse Fuge and was reminded anew that a passionate, technically brilliant and astutely lead group of musicians can translate masterpieces into listening experiences that give one a glimpse into eternity. Music is one of the ways we can reach outside of our world, so I don't think it is hyperbole to talk of eternity.

As I sat listening, I felt so very grateful that this group of consummate professionals is willing to subordinate their other pleasures to a life of practice and study, enabling their audiences to travel outside of themselves, see meaning where they thought there was none and take courage to live. If you think I am using extreme language, go and see them and hear for yourself.

French tea

When I was in Paris last year one of the few things I bought was some tea from the Dammann Tea shop.  It was labeled Earl Grey Yin  Zhen I bought it mostly because I liked the little black and maroon tin.

When I got home and tried it I wished I had bought two tins as it was a delight to drink, large leafed, with some lavender petals and not too much Bergamot flavouring.  It has become my preferred afternoon brew and I have been drinking a cup most days, but eking it out to make it last, using just half a teaspoon of tea for my one cup pot. Today I drank the last brew from the little tin.

Lamenting my dwindling Paris tea and wondering if I would have to visit again to get some more, today I discovered in the local supermarket a tea labeled French Earl Grey Tea. It is from a UK company called 'Higher Living' and I could see though the cellophane that it is large leafed black tea with lavender (and rose) petals.

Tomorrow I will see if it tastes as good as my Paris tea. I might not have to make the trip after all!

Gutter glitter

Back to things more prosaic -  in this case, guttering. The gutters on this old house were long past their replace-date and when they were removed last week I'm told they were so thin in parts that "it was like cutting paper".

I calculated it would take two days for the guttering to be replaced on house and garage, however four men arrived at 7:30am, worked like clockwork and by 12 noon they were finished.

old gutters

New gutters: what a difference

Portrait of an eleven year old

Kurtis: acrylic on canvas
100 x 70 cm

My portrait of eleven year old Kurtis is finished. It is a large work (though not ginormous) but I find I enjoy making large portraits. As usual it went through several iterations and some frustration on the way to completion. It took me a lot of fiddling to get his face just right and as usual, I thought it would never 'work'.

I had originally intended to add one of Kurtis's drawings in the background (his favourite subjects are drawing and maths) but instead I added a hand. He posed for me next to the painting so I could draw his hand.

First charcoal sketch

Katie Noonen and the Brodsky Quartet in Sydney

Last week when I heard the Katie Noonen singing with the Brodsky Quartet (broadcast from Brisbane by ABC ClassicFM) I was sorry I hadn't arranged to see them in Sydney. Then I got an email from the Sydney City Recital Hall, realised that they were performing in Sydney the following Monday and bought one of the few remaining tickets. I saw them last night.

Katie Noonen at the Sydney Recital Center

The first half of the concert were classical pieces set to poems by Judith Wright which had been commissioned by the group and written by Australian composers. They were remarkable; enjoyable despite being miked. (Katie specialises in pop/jazz/rock and I imagine her very distinctive voice transports better with a mike.) Her mother, I discovered later, is soprano Maggie Noonen and they sometimes perform together.

I loved the classical songs but I suspect many of the audience were like my neighbours who enjoyed the post interval Elvis Costello jazz songs better. The audience obviously knew and loved these songs and sang along with Fragile,  the very last song of a generous two and a half hour performance.

Hopefully the Judith Wright poetry compositions will be played often and in a few years audiences will be able to sing along to those as well.

Omega Ensemble in Sydney

When I saw that the Omega Ensemble had put Wagner's Tristan and Isolde Vorspiel and Lebenstod at the beginning of their concert program last week I wondered if the programmer had had a mental lapse. How do you follow such music? Abrahmsen has a rich creamy voice and as she sang the Liebestod I wished it had been at the end of the evening instead of the beginning. (She sang Strauss's Four Last Songs as a finale.)

Maria Rospopova plays

Fortunately the composer of the second piece, Andrew Ford of the ABC music show, was on hand to introduce his own piece Contradance which followed the Liebestod.

The first thing he said was 'Well, how do you follow that? Perhaps by me keeping talking so there is a sufficient gap."
That is exactly what he did and by the time we heard Contradance we were in the right mood. Contradance was so different to what went before that there was no clash, but still I was pleased he had taken the time to create a gap.

Thirteen musicians performed on the evening but I was fascinated by the pianist Maria Raspopova. She is tall and sits very straight at the piano with her long legs tucked underneath. She added wonderfully to the sound of the group and was a pleasure to watch.

It was a successful evening, even if I would have wished for Isolde at the end instead of the beginning!

It you stand on a pedestal ...

Captain Cook .  St Kilda Park, Melbourne.

If you stand on a pedestal, sooner or later this is what will happen to you.

You'd look cranky too.

Melbourne Airport to the city

There are two ways to get to Melbourne airport from the city. You can take the speedy private Skybus for $18 or you can take public transport which is half the price: the #901 bus from the airport to Broadmeadows, then the train to the city.

Before I went to Melbourne I had read on Tripadvisor that Broadmeadows is a bit dangerous and taking the Skybus the the city is preferable so on my way there that is what I did. By the time I left however, I had a valid public transport myki card and getting to the airport would be included in my seven day pass.

I asked my AirBandB hostess about Broadmeadows being a bit dicey and she laughed aloud.

" Oh that's advice for country Nanas coming to town!" she chortled. " And besides, you have been staying on Gray Street St Kilda which is the ice capital of Melbourne!"

So I decided on the cheaper alternative and set off with bag, purse and small backpack via Broadmeadows.

The small backpack (purchased in Melbourne) was one item more than I normally carry and I left it behind me when I changed seats on the train.  Luckily for me one of the good citizens of Broadmeadow noticed me leave it behind and called to me not to forget it. 

So much for travel advice about dangerous suburbs.

Jessica Pratt sings Lucia in Melbourne

Before the show

Level 1 stairwell

Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne is worth visiting even if you are not going  to a show. It's a lovely old (1886) building which has retained it's charm, with original high backed chairs for waiting guests and fresh flowers in front of segmented mirrors.

It was a wonderful venue to see the Victorian Opera production of Lucia di Lammermoor by  Gaetano Donizetti with Jessica Pratt performing the lead role.

As I waited for the curtain to rise I wondered if I had chosen a seat too far forward as my fifth row seat seemed very near the stage. My seat neighbour assured me that front seats were good seats as sound didn't carry particularly well in this hall.

She was right and it was a real treat to see Jessica Pratt, sing her signature role Lucia from such a good vantage point.

(Dame Nellie Melba, another famous Lucia, refused to sing in this venue which she declared 'dead', until it was modified in 1911.)

Jessica Pratt as Lucia
(Victorian Opera website)

Jessica has a very beautiful voice that is perfectly pitched. In addition she is an excellent actor and looked every bit the happy nineteen year old when she first pranced onto the stage.

The score includes a glass harmonica in the mad scene which is  usually left out nowadays as it is considered 'too quiet',  but in Melbourne it was included (played by Philippa Safely) and added enormously to the opera. Lucia sang and was echoed and answered by this ethereal sounding harmonica. It made it easy to put yourself in Lucia's shoes and feel what she felt.

It was a wonderful performance played brilliantly.  Congratulations Jessica Pratt.

Melbourne: concrete and gardens

Melbourne- you feel as if you are in concrete jungle, but cross the road and suddenly you are in an oasis winding along the Yarra river.

View from Hamer Hall

Gardens across the road from Hamer Hall

Chamber Music in Melbourne

Rebecca Chan  is a remarkable musician whom I had heard as part of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) which she was a member of for five years and then as the violin part of the Australia Piano Quartet which I think is one of the best young classical groups in Australia.

When I knew I would be in Melbourne last weekend I looked to see what classical concerts were on and discovered that Chan would be playing as part of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra virtuosi series in Moonie Ponds which is on a direct train line not far from inner Melbourne.

Moonie Ponds was Dame Edna Everidge's home town and on Friday it did her proud. The music was fabulous, but I found it hard to concentrate in the first half because my neighbour shared her hand cream with her mother just before the lights dimmed and the coconut scent became very overpowering as the cream warmed on their hands. After interval I took a seat towards the back, unfortunately too near a couple of women who didn't realise their comments could be heard over the music.

The only thing to do after frustration like that is to hear some more music as soon as possible and luckily for me the ACO was performing a program called 'Cinemusica' on Sunday afternoon. The ACO always seems to be able to stretch our imaginations and yesterday they were performing with Synergy Percussion, a group billed as being Australia's oldest and foremost contemporary music ensembles. It was a well curated program played with panache .... and no one near me applied hand cream or talked during the performance. I knew to appreciate it.

Paragliders in the sunset

St Kilda Beach Park

There was a cold wind blowing on the St Kilda Beach this evening, a wind that is obviously a fixture as the trees in the park all lean towards the east, away from the beach.
The beach was lovely despite the wind, with paragliders making the most of the conditions, skimming along the water in the setting sun.

Big little purse in Melbourne

Melbourne is more relaxed than Sydney and it has a network of interesting inner city laneways  lined with shops who take the art of window display seriously so it is a nicer place to shop. 

Queue at tearooms in Melbourne laneway

Melbourians also seem to be more conservative that Sydneysider. I was surprised to see well dressed 14 year old girls waited patiently in the long queue to 'that' tea shop, the one with the green flock wallpaper and cakes with real European flair. I'm not sure where 14 year old girls would queue in Sydney?
European? Yes, Melbourne definately feels more European. More solid, less stressed, more, well, cultured.

Big little purse in Bourke Street