BRUNO MEIER ENSEMBLE

Friends of Music presents bold trio in programme of chamber music. (Review by Michael Green)

It takes a bold trio to present a programme of chamber music by Joseph Kreutzer, Heinrich Neumann, Willy Burkhard, Rudolf Kelterborn and Anton Diabelli.

Never heard of them? Neither had I, except for Diabelli, and he is remembered today only because he wrote a waltz tune from which Beethoven fashioned 33 magnificent variations for piano. But this was the programme which a visiting trio from Switzerland gave to the Friends of Music at the Durban Jewish Centre.

Rather to my surprise, it attracted a substantial audience, and they were rewarded with some outstanding playing of compositions that also turned out to be a pleasant surprise; most of them, anyway. If the programme was unusual so were the trio themselves, a combination of flute (Bruno Meier), guitar (Han Jonkers) and viola (Nicolas Corti). They all come from Switzerland, although Han Jonkers was born in Holland. Their visit to South Africa and Namibia has been sponsored by a Swiss arts council, hence the inclusion on their programme of two twentieth century Swiss composers. The rest of the programme came from the early nineteenth century.

They opened with a very melodious and pleasant three-movement trio by Joseph Kreutzer (German, 1790-1840). He is not the man to whom Beethoven dedicated his famous Kreutzer sonata; that was Rodolphe Kreutzer, a celebrated violinist.

Joseph Kreutzer’s trio was elegant and stylish, and beautifully played. The composer gave most of the melodic lines to the viola and flute, with the guitar providing harmony and tonal contrast. I thought the combination worked very well, with the guitar sounding at times rather like a harpsichord. Most enjoyable.

Another German, Heinrich Neumann (1792-1861), provided the next item, a two-movement Serenade for viola and guitar. This, too, was very easy on the ear, with an admirable understanding between the two players and some virtuoso playing by the violist, Nicolas Corti, who produced a lovely rich tone throughout the evening.

This was followed by another, very different, Serenade, this one for flute and guitar, written in 1935 by the Swiss composer Willy Burkhard (1900-1950). The music opened with a rather Latin, South American flavour but soon moved into a modern idiom with many dissonances. The composer has deftly contrasted the two instruments, the flute playing far-ranging melodic phrases over a kind of arpeggio accompaniment from the guitar. Not ingratiating music, but not unattractive either. Most members of the audience seemed to find it interesting.

After the interval came Six Short Pieces for flute, viola and guitar by Rudolf Kelterborn, who was born in Switzerland in 1931 and still lives there. I suspect that for most listeners these short pieces were not short enough. Written in 1984, this is really sound effects music which seems almost experimental and offers little in the way of melody or rhythm.

Finally, we were given a four-movement trio for flute, viola and guitar by Anton Diabelli (1781-1858), who was born and died in Austria. His real surname was Damon, which means demon, and his father, a church musician, wisely decided to change it. This work turned out to be pleasant music of no particular significance, the best part being the contrapuntal third movement.

The players were given prolonged applause at the end of the evening and they deserved it; all three are exceptional performers.

The evening’s prelude performers, funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, were the quaintly-named Dr Fly and the Nurses, three young students who have modelled their act on the Andrews Sisters of long ago. The singers were Sophia Basckin, Amy Saville and Jessica Sole, and their close harmony and animated presentation took us back a generation or two with items such as In the Mood (Glenn Miller, 1939) and I Love the Java Jive (the Ink Spots, 1940). Delightful. - Michael Green