This gallery contains 8 photos.
The song nears its end. We hear the same theme we heard during the introduction, except this time, it is in a hopeful D Major. It suggests that Death has won over the Maiden. We can almost imagine her, sleeping … Continue reading
This gallery contains 10 photos.
Death sounds his reply in ominous though seductive undertones. So says he: “Give me your hand, you lovely and tender form / I am a friend, and come not to punish / Be of good cheer! I am not savage, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 7 photos.
The maiden, enters and commences her desperate refrain in a contralto voice: “Pass over me! / Pass over me! / Go, you wild man-of-bones! / I am still young. / Go, rather, / And don’t touch me / And don’t … Continue reading
This gallery contains 4 photos.
The song begins in D minor. The mood is portentous. Eight bars of soft, but sinister chords on the piano echo Death himself, emerging from the water and creeping softly up to the unsuspecting maiden. The landscape here is a … Continue reading
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Liberty Street is a short street. It is quite possibly the shortest little slip of a street on this Grand Tour of Manhattan. In fact, it doesn’t even go the whole way across the small island, but morphs into Maiden … Continue reading
This gallery contains 20 photos.
Unfortunately, when I arrived in Phnom Penh that weekend, King Sihanouk had just passed away, and his body been ceremonially laid in state in the Royal Palace. As such, most of the Palace compound – about three quarters of it, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 40 photos.
Forget what the guidebooks and online advisories say. Phnom Penh’s architecture and cityscape is breathtaking, particularly in and around the city centre, huddled along the banks of the Ton Le Sap River. Phnom Penh is also immensely walkable. In fact, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 12 photos.
While in Phnom Penh, stay at the Hotel Le Royal, so goes conventional wisdom. And so I did. Situated in the heart of the city’s colonial quarter to the north, Le Royal has led a charmed life. Opened in 1929 … Continue reading
This gallery contains 7 photos.
“[A]lready all we have built in Phnom Penh appears old under the effects of the burning sun; the fine, straight streets we have constructed are devoid of any human presence and overgrown with grass; one could believe that this is … Continue reading
This gallery contains 4 photos.
Today I got to thinking about how music, place and memory are so closely intertwined, and how our memories of places are often triggered by a song that we happened to be listening to at the time. Throughout my two-ish … Continue reading
Dream Of A City 