A S H Smyth

Sand: A Journey Through Science And The Imagination Michael Welland OUP, 320pp, £18.99 ISBN 978-0-19-956318-0 ‘Did you know that the Sand Mountain in Nevada emits a low C, while dunes in Chile sound an F, and those in Morocco a G#?’ Me neither. But that’s not the only thing you’ll learn about ‘the sand of […]

Understanding Music: Philosophy and Interpretation Roger Scruton Continuum, 244pp, £18.99 ISBN 978-1-84706-506-3 That any book might ‘appeal both to specialists of philosophy and musicology and also to the ordinary music lover’ is perhaps a little optimistic. In the case of Understanding Music, however, it is – through either authorial arrogance or editorial blindness – wildly […]

Eshantha Peiris, piano, Lionel Wendt Theatre A piano, a pianist, and a soft white light. Good, I think. Good. Neat. Clean. Then I see the banner projected onto the backcloth. It is 15ft by 6, at least. It says ‘EVOCATIVE’.  The pianist begins to play. The banner remains. Sort of. Now it plays a slide-show […]

In a programme frankly unimaginable by any orchestra not at the very top of its game, it was depressing to see the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka open last Sunday’s concert with a return to ‘form’, another slack and soupy rendition of their own national anthem. The second national anthem was rather rousing – the […]