A Rest from Work

Well I am just recovering from last week's work-out with Steppingstone, an organisation which helps people suffering from a psychiatric malady. I help out at the Cafe Unit where members can order drinks such as coffee and fruit juice as well as a few things to eat during the day. I serve behind the till taking orders for the different items. I try to do a bit of reading during a morning's work but find this very hard to do as the stream of customers is very steady. On Friday I just went on strike so to speak and got out David Pogue's book on the internet and read that all morning instead of doing my usual shift. Luckily, some other members were around to take the workload and the staff there that morning didn't seem to mind.
I find that I can read while listening to my music from an ipod and can pass a morning quite enjoyably reading computer books in this way. The mozart piano sonatas have a very incisive and trenchant sound to them which has a way of focussing my attention on the printed page. The Mozart piano style generally is one in which the playing is very orderly so reading while listening to mozart isn't much of a problem. This morning I spent a few hours listening to Mozart's piano concerto's. They are a very bright spot in my listening hours and raise my spirits considerably. The bright melodies prepare me for different tasks during my day. But I have lately become interested in the more mysterious tones of the Russian composers particularly the Prokofiev Piano Cocertos as well as the works of Stravinsky, and I will see whether I can acquire any of these from the Itunes Store.
The sound of Daniel Barenboim plaing the different Mozart piano Sonatas is one which I never tire of and the poignant slow movements are very restful and beautiful. Vladimir Ashkenazy's performance of the Mozart piano concertos is very professional but I can find my attention wandering while he plays them.

Life in Brisbane

As I returned to life in Brisbane, thoughts concerning Mozart came back to me and I found myself buying his music again. The music settled me down a lot and I suppose by this time I was listening to all of those piano sonatas and quite a few of the piano concertos. I still tuned in to rock and roll radio and even bought records of Johnny Mathis and Wayne Newton, American rock and roll giants whom I thought had interesting and exciting voices. But I was still playing a lot of classical music at the boarding houses I lived in at that time and the new Brisbane classical and Jazz F.M. radio station 4MBS had me as a steady listener. Over the years I have virtually ceased listening to rock and roll music, or even Jazz and now concentrate entirely on classical. My music library now mainly consists of Mozart's music plus some Tchaikovsky, Liszt and Prokofiev. I find that ABC-FM plays some interesting classical music, though I tend to enjoy the afternoon Programs where you can listen to long pieces more easily. Say, a complete symphony or piano concerto or chamber music work playing on the air for an hour or so.
The political climate in Queensland had now changed, but there were no restrictions on any of the classical music one could buy. In fact, at one time I had the opportunity to purchase the complete works of Mozart on CD for about $1000 or so I think, but I turned that down. One thing that depressed me a little was that in recent months at least there have been no specialist classical music stores selling a large variety of classical music CD's. Only small ranges of this type of music can now be found at different stores in Brisbane. I find that the classical music I play is at once dramatic, exciting, and comforting to me. I can easily spend an afternoon listening to it.
It is a haven from the clamour of big city life. I need to see people every day but yearn for the privacy of my room where I can listen to piano music uninterrupted for one or two hours at a time.

Joy in Cairns

While I was camping at Port Douglas I had only a $10 radio with me which I could use to tune in to the Cairns radio stations which played rock and roll. There may have been an ABC-FM station which played a little classical music too. The era was still the one of L.P.'s and vinyl discs and I had left all of my audio and hi-fi equipment in Canberra. I felt on top of the world as I roamed around in Tropical North Queensland, drinking in the beautiful scenery and the sparkling placid water. Finally, I boarded the train which would take me back to freezing old Canberra. I felt completely elated and in command of myself.
After a few days on the train with all the stopping and starting at the different stations, I finally boarded the Sydney-Canberra train. My mood was still triumphant and I resolved to stick to the three year contract I had with the Public Service and then resign and head off to North Queensland permanently. I consequently completed my term in the Public Service and at the end of three years of employment, resigned my post as an Examiner of Trade Marks and headed straight off back to Cairns. I didn't regret my decision for an instant, in any case I felt that I would get nowhere in the Public Service. I very much needed to break away from the world of desks and stressful work which bound me to them. I was going to become a dropout, but I couldn't take any more of the clerical life. My marriage plans had fallen through and I felt that there was little keeping me in Canberra now.
After my return to Cairns I spen 4-5 years roaming around that tropical wilderness, travelling past Cape York along to Weipa in a Prawn fishing trawler and visiting some of the rainforests there. The experience refreshed me enormously and once again, I felt as though I had the world at my feet. I had a little money on me as the Australian Government was paying me Unemployment benefit at the time. Gradually, though, I fely my thoughts returning homewards and I finally drove back to Brisbane in an old Valiant Sedan I had purchased for about $600 or so with my tax refund. At least after all those experiences I was sane, well and truly alive and physically well!

Thoughts about Mozart (Cont.)

The City Caravan Park was full of campers, some in tents and others in caravans. Somehow, I managed to get to sleep for a single night and then, the next morning took a bus ride into the city of Cairns. It seemed like a pretty place with many wide streets. There were supermarkets, cafes, hotels, banks and other shops there. I was surprised I had made it to this tourist mecca at all. It was fun wandering around there, I had never seen anything quite like it.
Facing the harbourside there was a long esplanade park and walkway where the quiet water lapped against concrete walls. I bought some meat and other provisions and returned to the caravan park. After I had sojourned at the park for a week or two, meeting some other campers there, I thought I might take a trip up to Port Douglas, about 50 km. or so up the coast. A van which seated eight or so people took me up there and I set up camp at the local council caravan park. I was soon meeting people and it was easy to walk to the township and the harbour of Port Douglas. There was an inexpesive boat cruise out to the Low Isles followed by a salad lunch available so I thought I would go along on that. It was a terrific outing , and once on the Low Isles everyone donned snorkels and flippers and swam around and beneath the ocean, where you could see all sorts of tropical fish and exotic marine life. I was astounded at what I saw there, and felt enormously invigorated by that swim. I returned to my tent feeling like a new man.
The enormous Palm trees with their coconuts stretched along a long white beach. I had never experienced anything like this before. I felt like some sort of castaway in that lush tropical setting.

Thoughts about Mozart (Cont.)

Luckily, a Jewish friend of mine had been holidaying in Far North Queensland, so I thought I would take a look at this part of the world to which my elder brother Philip had gone with his de facto wife several years before. As the train passed through the Queensland border I felt the northern warm weather passing into every part of my frost-bitten body. At Roma Street Station in Brisbane I had to board the Sunlander train which would take me about 1000km. up the Queensland coast to Cairns. As the diesel train chugged on I became more relaxed but I wasn't really sure what to expect at the end of my journey.
Finally, after 2-3 days journey I disembarked at Cairns Railway Station. The train had made brief stops at many other stations en route and I had found myself loving the hanging potplants and ferns that adorned many of the Northern Stations. Cairns Station itself was devoid of any shrubbery but it had a very homely feel to it like many of the other stations we had passed through.
After a brief look beyond the confines of Cairns Station I began to drag my luggage along the road. I had no idea where I would stay. The weather was warm and balmy and at last I decided to opt for camping and fetched up at a nearby disposals store. I put some money down for a two man tent. I then made for the City Caravan Park where I eventually pitched the tent. All this was a completely new adventure for me. I didn't have the slightest idea of what to do, I simply felt my way along to the cooking and sleeping episodes that awaited me. I felt enormously stimulated by the trip and the campsite and a new and exciting chapter had definitely opened up in my life.

Thoughts about Mozart (Cont.)

The Canberra Winters took a lot of getting used to. During the Winter months I was never completely free from the terrific cold whether there was a radiator or central heating or not. Even warm clothing did not dispel the all-pervading cold much. I made a couple of friends at Narellan House one of whom I would play a set or two of tennis with from time to time. Peter Young was a very good tennis player and a good all round sportsman, keen on basketball too. He later moved to the on-campus college, Toad Hall, which was slightly cheaper than other on-campus colleges. He later married while I was working in the Public Service in Canberra and had a couple of children shortly after the marriage.
I suppose I was buying a few L.P.s from time to time and generally familiarizing myself with Bach harpsichord music and other music of Mozart and other composers. I can't remember whether I purchased a set of the Mozart piano sonatas in the A.C.T. or not, perhaps I was still dabbling with his piano concerti. I'm certain that I continued to play his works and remained solidly impressed with them.
While I was still living in Canberra I took a couple of trips to the South-Eastern New South Wales Coast and a few to Sydney. Unfotunately I had some bad experiences trying to stay awake while I was driving. I tended to drowse at the wheel, the quantity of medication I was on was heavy too I think. While in a private hospital at the beginning of my employment in the Public Service I met a Jewish girl called Michal Leslie. I met her family there and after I left Canberra and returned to Queensland and Brisbane, we had a correspondence lasting about thirty years.
She was interested in getting married and having children, but didn't know anything about music at all. My musical experiences were therefore solitary ones connected with Hi-Fi and recorded music. I remember recording a few tracks from Schubert Lieder and the Bach Cantatas I loved for my co-workers to hear. I think that they liked the music which was recorded on a cassette, but after I resigned my job at the Patents Office there was no further communication about it.

Thoughts about Mozart (Cont.)

I started the Practical Legal Training Course at the A.N.U. and resided at Narellan House in a single room. Narellan House was full of students doing their different courses and unable to pay the expensive rents for on-campus college rooms. There was a billiard table at Narellan House and the students would play annual competitions on it. A set of Snooker balls was also there for people wishing to play that game. There was also a table tennis table, and competitions were also held on that. I won the annual tournament held in table tennis in the year I resided there.

Gradually, I began to take in Canberrra and the University. Narellan House was situated very close to the central city mall called "Civic" and the University itself was also close to the city centre.

Not a great many of the students were following classical music at Narellan, but I looked in at a couple of the music stores in Canberra. In particular I remember one at Manukah where I listened to a few records of Bach Cantatas. I hadn't as yet begun exploring Mozart in any detail. The intense cold of the region began to make itself felt. The Summer months were hot, but the lasting impression was of the Winter months and the incredible cold which came with them. Temperatures during that time were often below zero and despite central heating in the hostels you could feel the cold quite keenly. Often an icy wind would accompany me as I walked about.

Thoughts about Mozart (cont.)

The sounds of Mozart's piano sonatas were making an indelible impression on my mind when an opportunity came up for me to acquire practical legal training in a six month course at the Australian National University. I decided to take up an offer of a place in the course and to travel to Canberra by train. I also booked a room in an off-campus residential complex called Narellan House. The train trip was a long one and also a fairly lonely one for me. I slept on the seat in a second class smoking carriage placed right at the rear of the train. You could smoke on passenger trains back then, around 1977/78. In my youthful folly I had taken up the habit of smoking tobacco, a move I later deeply regretted and personally rejected.
After travelling from Brisbane to Sydney I had to change trains for Canberra at Sydney's Central Station. I remember spending many lonely hours watching people endlessly come and go in the station until the departure of the Sydney to Canberra train was announced in the early evening. I had no idea of the city I was coming into or the people I would be mixing with. Finally, however the train arrived in Canberra and somehow I found my way to Narellan House. I unpacked my bags and entered my room.
I was probably carrying around too much gear in those days and I was certainly carrying some Hi-Fi which included a turntable for L.P. records, a pair of speakers and not a few L.P.'s as well. I also had a tennis racquet and a few books. In my collection of L.P.s I might well have been carrying the boxed set of the Marriage of Figaro I had bought in Brisbane years earlier plus a few L.P.'s of Bach Cantatas and other Bach harpsichord works. The overwhelming majority of records I had would have been classical, but not necessarily of Mozart at that time.

Between Listening Sessions

I have decided not to let Mozart take complete control of my life and jot down a few thoughts about the music I have been thoroughly enjoying for the past forty or so years. I began my foray into Mozart's music by purchasing one of his operas, The Marriage of Figaro, in about 1971, when I was beginning University studies. At first the music was completely unfamiliar, but after I had played it a few times parts of the music stayed with me and became familiar to me.
I thought that some sections were delightful, that a lot of the music was very dramatic, and very possibly that other sections were just plain boring. But on the whole I could honestly say that I had picked up something new in my world of music and I began to enter an entirely new dimension in my musical thinking.
Mozart was starting to grow on me. My youngest brother thought that the whole project was ludicrous, my mother gave cautious approval. I left home and after leaving the University started to share a house with some guys who were post graduate and very keen music lovers. One guy, who had attended the local grammar school with me, had Mozart's complete piano sonatas on L.P.