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Christopher Menz

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Thus Spake Zarathustra (Sydney Symphony Orchestra)

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01 December 2015
Thus Spake Zarathustra (Sydney Symphony Orchestra)

As if to make the point that Richard Wagner's shadow looms over all the classical music that followed him, this Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert entitled Thus Spake Zarathustra began and ended with him.

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Tchaikovsky & Grieg (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra)

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16 November 2015

After his Adelaide concert, Grosvenor concluded his Australian tour with a stellar performance of the Grieg piano concerto with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Asher Fisch, first in Geelong then in Melbourne. The concerto was flanked by Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture and his Fourth Symphony. Even such an exuberant program, with the full forces of the orchestra in fine form, proved the power of music to provide the necessary solace following news of the dreadful events in Paris on 13 November.

Grosvenor demonstrated his perfect artistry and musicianship, bringing extraordinary subtlety of expression to a work better known for its bombastic passages and hair-raising exposed entries for the soloist.

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Philanthropy and the Arts by Jennifer Radbourne and Kenneth Watkins

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November 2015, no. 376
Christopher Menz reviews 'Philanthropy and the Arts' by Jennifer Radbourne and Kenneth Watkins

The Australian Ballet's role as a leader in philanthropy and fundraising has long been recognised in the arts community. Anyone who has followed the company will be aware of the sophistication of its fundraising activities and its phenomenal success. Much of this has been directed by Kenneth Watkins, ...

The Essence of French Cooking by Michel Roux & The Best of Gretta Anna with Martin Teplitzky by Gretta Anna Teplitzky and Martin Teplitzky

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November 2015, no. 376
Christopher Menz reviews 'The Essence of French Cooking' by Michel Roux and 'The Best of Gretta Anna with Martin Teplitzky' by Gretta Anna Teplitzky and Martin Teplitzky

Why is it that some recipe books fill you with enthusiasm to fire up the stove the instant you open them while others remain on the shelf, consulted rather than cooked from? Is it the text, the photographs, the design, or because they come from the pen of a trusted cook? In the case of The Essence of French Cooking and The Best of Gretta Anna with Marti ...

Simone Young and Brahms (ANAM/MRC)

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21 September 2015

Simone Young’s return to Melbourne saw her presenting a mostly Romantic program with soprano Emma Matthews and the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) Orchestra. The first half, heralded by Paul Stanhope’s Fantasia on a Theme of Vaughan Williams (2003), was devoted to Duparc songs and an orchestral nocturne. After ...

Siena: City of Secrets by Jane Tylus

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September 2015, no. 374
Christopher Menz reviews 'Siena' by Jane Tylus

Visitors to Siena are told about two major historical catastrophes that determined the future of the city: the Black Death in 1348 and the final capitulation to Florence in 1555. Such events manifest themselves respectively in the spectacularly incomplete Duomo and in the marked reduction of buildings and art creat ...

Mid-Century Modern Complete by Dominic Bradbury

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June-July 2015, no. 372
Christopher Menz reviews 'Mid-Century Modern Complete' by Dominic Bradbury

The reconstruction of the built environment that followed World War II was central to the development of international design in the third quarter of the twentieth century. This is the background and context for Mid-Century Modern Complete, a large volume which covers design and architecture (mostly European and North American) from the 1940s to the early 197 ...

Emporium: Selling the dream in colonial Australia by Edwin Barnard

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March 2015, no. 369
Christopher Menz reviews 'Emporium: Selling the dream in colonial Australia' by Edwin Barnard

Nowadays, with relentless advertising and a seemingly endless number of choices to confuse our every purchase, often only a click away from gratification, it might be tempting to imagine a time when things were simplerand retailing less pressured and more genteel. However, one would have to go a long way back in time to find an Australia without shops; indeed, to before 1790, when Sydney’s first recorded shop appeared. Indigenous Australians had traded commodities for thousands of years, but the European settlers brought thenotion of a cash transaction to the continent, even if, in the early days of settlement, a lack of liquidity led to bartering goods.

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The English and Australian Cookery Book by Edward Abbott & The English and Australian Cookery Book Companion: 1864–2014 Sesquicentenary Edition edited by Edward Abbott

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January-February 2015, no. 368
Christopher Menz reviews 'The English and Australian Cookery Book' by Edward Abbott

Given the deluge of cookery books and unrelenting television programs, it is hard to imagine a time when there wasn’t a single Australian cookery book. This year marks the sesquicentenary of the first: The English and Australian Cookery Book, a volume published anonymously in London, and compiled by ‘An Australian Aristologist’, Edward Abbott. Abbott (1801–69) was born in Sydney and by 1818 was working in Hobart. He became a newspaper proprietor, establishing the Hobart Town Advertiser in 1839, and a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly (1864–65) and the Legislative Council (1864–86). It was during his political career that he prepared and published this volume.

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History of Design: Decorative arts and material culture, 1400–2000 edited by Pat Kirkham and Susan Weber

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December 2014, no. 367
Christopher Menz reviews 'History of Design: Decorative arts and material culture, 1400–2000', edited by Pat Kirkham and Susan Weber

The Bard Graduate Center, long known for its ground-breaking studies in the decorative arts, has taken the ambitious leap of presenting a comprehensive history of decorative arts and design from 1400 to 2000, covering Asia, the Islamic world, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. (Coverage of Australia and Oceania is planned for future editions.) At over 700 pages, this is a most impressive achievement. For once, instead of being relegated to occasional paragraphs in major survey texts of art history, the decorative arts are presented centre stage. I wish it had been around when I was a student. Weber has assembled a team of scholars to cover this vast territory and it is not surprising to read that the book was almost ten years in the making. This volume does for the decorative arts what those standard university textbooks, Gardner’s Art through the Ages and Janson’s History of Art, did for the fine arts.

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