There are times when the pianist in the corner can hardly be heard over the bar’s chatter though there are a few bar’s customers nearby who clearly appreciate his playing. Outside it is wintry and the prows of the ships are ghost-like in the evening mist. You feel […]
MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT Most with an ear for Spanish music will be familiar with Pablo de Sarasate’s gipsy airs (Zigeunerweisen): Otherwise, his Carmen Fantasy. It is music that stops you from whatever you are doing; the catchiness and spontaneity of these melodies bring a pause to any […]
MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT Of humble background I can’t imagine what introduced me to good music. Certainly, there was little to be cheerful about in post-war Britain. In our humble home, with its primitive radio that broadcast only four programmes’ we kids were told to be very quiet […]
MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT. I often wonder if the staff of advertising agencies are on illegal substances. ‘If it isn’t classical, it isn’t music’ is my approach to music. My favourite station is Venice Classical Radio (VCR) simply because the station provides 100 per cent classical music. There […]
MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT: John Barry (1933-2011) John Barry Prendergast OBE was a British composer and conductor of film music. He composed the scores for eleven of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1987, as well as arranging and performing the “James Bond Theme” for the first […]
MICHAEL WALSH Music Correspondent. Franz Lehár (1870 passed on October 24, 1948) was the son of the marching band chief of the 50th infantry regiment of the Austro-Hungarian army Franz Lehár (1838-1898) and Christine Neubrand (1849-1906). His mother tongue is Hungarian. German being the language of the army, […]
MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT. When it comes to across-the-board musical talent Spain is giving the rest of Europe a run for its money. There is however one ball it cannot afford to take its eye off; that of the opera ball and its greatest-ever opera star, José Plácido […]
MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT: Neda Ukraden the beautiful chanteuse was born on 16 August 1950). Neda is a Serbian-Croatian singer. Her professional career stretches back to 1967. Neda Ukraden was born in Glavina Donja, a village near the small Croatian town of Imotski, to Serb parents Anđelija (1924–2018) and Dušan Ukraden (1927–1997). She lived in Imotski […]
MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC REPORT Renewed enthusiasm for national identity expressed through music lies behind the current craze for Amalia Rodrigues Portugal’s Queen of Fado. The international fame and appeal of the chanteuse fame once eclipsed French soul-singing waif Edith Piaf and Nana Mouskouri of Greece. Amalia. The Film, […]
MICHAEL WALSH MUSIC CORRESPONDENT. When a member of the pretentious Talk Classical forum dared to ask what others thought of the light classical impresario Andre Rieu there was an outraged response. It took a brave soul to say a kind word about the man who, in 2009, was […]
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