Latest Articles
We are encouraged to rely more and more on government officials to do for us what we could equally well do for ourselves—and, maybe more importantly, not to do what might help us solve our own problems.
Sep 08 2024
10 mins
If we imagine a metric called the Pinocchio Scale, which measures the number of lies told by a politician as a percentage of his or her overall public statements, our current prime minister (for want of a better description), Airbus Albo, has moved well into uncharted territory.
Sep 06 2024
5 mins
Resurrecting the Mysteries of Heinrich Biber
Why is it that there are pieces of music that, although rich in invention, remain essentially isolated from the mainstream? Perhaps the manuscript was lost, or the piece was so radical that it was shunned at the time of its genesis, only to find acceptance later. Sometimes, the work of a particular composer captures the imagination of the public, critics and fellow composers, eclipsing the style and innovations of another, whose work falls into obscurity.
They are the outliers that—if they are lucky—re-enter the conversation centuries later, to be studied, performed, recorded and discussed.
One such work is a collection of fifteen short sonatas for violin and continuo with a final passacaglia for solo violin by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. Born in northern Bohemia, Biber worked in Salzburg from 1670 until his death in 1704. Now known as the Mystery, or Rosary, Sonatas, they follow the Roman Catholic Rosary of the Virgin Mary, and in these works Biber brings together his…
The Editor of Quadrant Music, Alexander Voltz, has won the symphonic section of the prestigious George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest.
Sep 03 2024
1 mins
You can imagine my surprise when I recently became aware, courtesy of my cousin Paul, of the letter below, addressed to Mr J.A, Farquar, Commissioner of the South Australian Railways.
Aug 31 2024
2 mins
The history of the Jewish state, just like that of the Holocaust, is undoubtedly unknown to these deniers of Israel’s legitimacy. They are but the latest iteration of the five Arab states’ war in 1948-49, by which they expected to destroy the fledgling Jewish state. They lost, but have since used the motley collection of Circassian, Turkish, Jordanian, Syrian and Lebanese Arabs, renamed Palestinians in 1967, to ceaselessly prosecute the original war of rejection.
Aug 29 2024
8 mins
