About Me

I ramble about a number of things - but travel experiences, movies and music feature prominently. See my label cloud for a better idea. All comnments and opinions on this blog are my own, and do not in any way reflect the opinions/position of my employer (past/current/future).

22 February 2014

JPO's 1st 2014 Season, 3rd Concert

Robert Maxym, with his translucent shirt, was back on the podium for the 3rd concert for the year for the JPO. The concert started off with Beethoven's Lenore Overture No 3 from his opera Fidelio; and was probably my favourite piece of the concerts so far - almost a mini symphony on its own.

Russian pianist, Konstantin Soukhovetski, is probably the most flashiest male solo performer I have seen at the JPO - complete with sparkling shoes and jacket. I am not a big fan of Mozart, but his performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 24, was amazing. He was completely absorbed in the music - whether sitting while waiting for the orchestra; or in his own solo performance. Without much prompting, his encore was a piano rendition of song scored by Schumann set in September (at the beginning of Autumn), and the fading  sunlight that brings a slow death to the garden - which he gave a synopsis of, before performing. With the material in mind, it is quite amazing how well the music tracked the emotions described.

The last piece of the evening was Mendelssohn's Symphony No.5 (Reformation) - which I liked in parts - but was mostly bored through it. The Beethoven and the Mozart made up for it though.

16 February 2014

Harties Cableway

I first heard of the Harties Cableway when I first moved to Johannesburg - but I was told it was derelict, and no longer operational. About a year ago, while driving through the area - I went past the site on a whim and saw that it was "under construction". Ever since, I have wanted to go up - but just never got round to it.

It's a fixed cable car system, providing a fairly comfortable ride up to the top - with absolutely amazing views of the area - with Johannesburg just visible on the horizon. The last bit to the top is particularly steep - but the cable car speed is fairly gentle with the whole ride taking about 2 minutes. There are a few food places with very reasonable prices - and is generally, a good place to spend an afternoon. 



  

It is hard to imagine riding up on the older cable car system, which are still on display at the bottom.