(Pic by Milena Mihaylova: Noriko Ogawa)Wide-ranging programme, chronologically and geographically, from KZNPO. (Review by Michael Green)
This concert in the Durban City Hall offered a programme that was wide-ranging, chronologically and geographically, from the eighteenth century to the twentieth and from Japan to France. The order of the programme was, I think, distinctly unusual. We started with Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D major, the Prague symphony, by any reckoning the major work of the evening, and progressed, if that’s the right word, to ballet music by Gounod, the final item.
The Prague symphony is a masterwork. It was first performed in Prague in 1787 with Mozart himself conducting. The symphony has three movements instead of the usual four, but it is a big work in every respect, widely varied in its moods and replete with a sumptuous array of melodies. The KZN Philharmonic Orchestra played it splendidly under the baton of the visiting Japanese conductor Yasuo Shinozaki. Understandably, and correctly, he was more restrained on the podium than in his earlier appearances with the orchestra, and he obtained excellent results. His unwaveringly steady beat was no doubt of assistance to the players, and the symphony’s exquisite Andante was played with great delicacy and precision. An outstanding performance was rewarded with appreciative applause from the audience.
The solo pianist of the evening was Noriko Ogawa, who comes from Japan and has made a name for herself in the wider world. I met her briefly before the concert, and she is as charming and good-looking as she is accomplished at the keyboard. With the orchestra she introduced something new in Durban, as far as I know: a composition by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996)
This work, composed in 1984, is called riverrun, one word, all small letters. Surprisingly enough, Takemitsu was interested in the Irish novelist James Joyce and his big, experimental and largely impenetrable novel Finnegans Wake (no apostrophe, for some peculiar Joycean reason). Joyce explored stream of consciousness ideas, the technique of trying to write down the thoughts and reactions and experiences of an individual, and Takemitsu tried to transfer these ideas to music. riverun is the first word in Finnegans Wake: “riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, swerve of shore to bend of bay…” The scene is Dublin.
Takemitsu’s riverrun is a 15-minute work and it was played with great authority and conviction by the pianist (she herself knew the composer). Water is the theme; the music ripples with swirls and splashes and occasional rapids. Takemitsu was influenced by the music of Debussy, another composer who was fascinated by water. This Japanese composition sounded quite lush and impressionistic, not at all like the harsh, abrasive, rhythmic compositions of so many modern composers.
The pianist and the orchestra performed with great skill. The keyboard part looks difficult, and the pianist had a score of some kind in front of her but did not turn a page during the entire performance. I assume that it was some form of aide memoire. The audience gave the players an enthusiastic response. Inevitably perhaps, new music evokes various reactions. I canvassed the views of some of my fellow subscribers, all of them seasoned concertgoers. Some were delighted with the work. “I loved it”, said one woman. Not everybody shared this view. “I didn’t like it one bit” said a man who attends all the concerts. “Ersatz Debussy”, said another.
Oddly enough, the women in my part of the City Hall seemed to like it more than the men. Gender discrimination?
After the interval the pianist and the orchestra moved to much more familiar ground with Cesar Franck’s Symphonic Variations. This is a pleasantly cheerful and brilliant piece from someone who was a very serious composer indeed. Noriko Ogawa and the orchestra gave an exuberant performance and they received prolonged applause.
The concert ended with a lively account of the ballet music from Gounod’s opera Faust. - Michael Green
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