KZNPO CONCERT: JUNE 18, 2009

Thrilling performance by Bryan Wallick was the highlight of this concert. (Review by Michael Green)

A thrilling performance of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor by the young American pianist Bryan Wallick was the highlight of this concert given by the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra in the Durban City Hall, under the baton of another American, the visiting conductor Leslie B. Dunner.

This concerto is a big and taxing work, running for about 45 minutes, and Bryan Wallick handled its technical difficulties with great skill and aplomb, and insight into the broader picture of the music.

It was a high speed performance. My ear is accustomed to a slower pace. Brahms himself, then aged 25, was the soloist at the first performance of the concerto at Hanover in Germany in 1859. The available evidence suggests that his playing style in general was unhurried and spacious, and I think that he probably played this concerto at a deliberate tempo, as indeed many modern pianists do.

The composer marked the first movement Maestoso, majestically, which does not suggest a very fast speed. And I feel that the nature of the music --- the commanding first subject on the strings, the entry of the piano with a quiet, Bach-like melody in thirds and sixths, and the magnificently broad second subject --- does not really require extreme virtuoso treatment.

Well, the historical fact is that the concerto was a dismal failure at that first performance with Brahms at the keyboard. And Bryan Wallick achieved a triumph with his brilliant playing in the Durban City Hall. He had total command. His thundering, rapid double octaves were remarkable to hear and to behold, and the pensive and sad slow movement brought forth some lovely playing in a very different mood. He was rewarded at the end with a prolonged ovation which was rightly shared by conductor and orchestra.

The first half of the programme was occupied by Haydn’s Symphony No 81 in G major, one of the lesser known works among the composer’s 104 symphonies. It is typically melodious, graceful, elegant and stylish, especially the slow movement, a theme and four variations. Leslie Dunner and the orchestra gave a delightful, polished performance. We are hearing quite a lot of Haydn this year because it is the 200th anniversary of his death in 1809. As far as I am concerned, they could play a Haydn symphony every Thursday and I wouldn’t ever be bored. - Michael Green