davidstones's posterous

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"Festival of Dance"

"Festival of Dance"

Acrylic paint and pen on acid free paper.

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"Dance of the Living

"Dance of the Living"

Acrylic paint and collage on acid free paper.

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September Post

Meyhem Tradition

"Battle of Longendale" Acrylic on acid free paper.

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Leningrad

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

LENINGRAD

The emotional journey through Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 4 through Michael Houston's playing is the most delicious introduction to an evenings music I have not experienced before.

Vasily Petrenko has the orchestra white hot, I felt what it is to experience a great conductor releasing the extraordinary passion deep within the composer.

Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 Leningrad is a revelation and Patrenko exposes the full power of the great music. I was carried through an emotional tableau, to be released at the end with the full realisation of the triumph of the human creative soul. Out of the most appalling tragedy ultimately I was left with hope.

Leningrad

Vasily Petrenko conductor
Michael Houstoun piano

RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 4
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 7 Leningrad

Experience REVOLUTION with the NZSO

Born and trained in St Petersburg, stellar Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra ChiefVasily Petrenko brings a deep understanding and passion to Shostakovich’s legendaryLeningrad Symphony. Written while the composer was trapped with his family in the city besieged and bombarded by the German army, Shostakovich here gives expression to the powerful feelings of rage and determination that his experience provoked, creating a symphony of unyielding defiance against tyranny. Out of the burning intensity of its birth, the legend of the Leningrad took immediate hold and has not diminished today. Preceding the symphony, we hear Rachmaninov’s late concerto, dating from 1926, a work in which the composer modified his innate Romanticism under the influence of the spirit of modernity that surrounded him. Striving for a streamlined simplicity and leanness, the composer’s Romantic spirit is not completely subdued, resulting in a work of great fascination, which reveals Rachmaninov’s questing musical spirit, his musical intelligence and sophistication.

“Petrenko lives up to the hype, with performances of great cogency and directness” The Guardian, UK

Wellington Michael Fowler Centre / Fri 5 August / 6.30 pm
Book at TICKETEK

Auckland Town Hall / Sat 6 August / 8.00 pm
Book at THE EDGE

Christchurch CBS Canterbury Arena / Thu 11 August / 6 pm
Presented in association with the Christchurch Arts Festival
Book at TICKETEK

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Failure and the Artist!

"Metropolis" Mixed media, on canvas, 1200cm x 1200cm

Failure and the Artist

Every artist whether musician, painter, whatever, lives constantly with failure.

Recently I entered a competition with the above art work,"Metropolis" and received the reply,

''Regrettably' the work was not accepted for selection for exhibition or to be judged for Art Award.

Regrettable letters are quite common for me and they hurt, each and every time, as for so many other artists of all shades, that take a risk to present work out there.

I have just read a marvelous book that illustrates the rawness of the artistic temperament and self doubt that is always present.

'The Concert Pianist" by Conrad Williams:

'You have no idea what it is to fall from grace. No idea what it means to attain grace" pg 146

All those with the creative temperament-stand up-hold hands.