FOM: LONDON SONG CIRCLE

Friends of Music present recital by three outstanding performers. (Review by Michael Green)

The art song is not a big crowd-drawer in Durban, judging by the attendance at this recital given at the Durban Jewish Centre by three outstanding performers.

Music-lovers who stayed at home missed an evening of beautiful music presented by gifted and committed artists: Mark Nixon (piano), Margriet van Reisen (mezzo-soprano) and Erica Eloff (soprano). They call themselves the London Song Circle, presumably because they often appear in London, but they are originally from South Africa (Mark and Erica) and from Holland (Margriet).

In a programme ranging from the 17th century (Henry Purcell) to the 20th (Benjamin Britten), they gave consistently fine performances, with Mark Nixon participating in every item. He is a music graduate of the University of Cape Town who now lives in London and has built a considerable reputation as a piano soloist and as an accompanist, and at this Friends of Music concert he excelled in both roles. His solo contribution was Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, taken at high speed and with a rather flamboyant keyboard style. The technical difficulties posed no problems for the pianist. His interpretation was exciting, and he produced a beautiful cantabile tone in the work’s main theme, one of Chopin’s finest inspirations.

Vocal duets are unusual outside the field of opera, but the programme opened with three such items, songs by Purcell arranged by Britten, plus two solo songs by this composer. One was immediately struck by the close and sympathetic liaison between the two singers, and between them and the pianist, and this empathy continued throughout the evening.

Four songs by Schumann, including two famous ones, Widmung (Devotion) and Der Nussbaum (The Nut Tree) followed, and in them Magriet van Reisen showed that she is a mezzo-soprano of the first rank. She covered a wide range of emotions, from gentle calm to dramatic declamation. She has a splendid voice and it is allied to an acute perception of the meaning of the music.

Then came a rarity, four duets by Brahms in different moods, good-humoured, melancholy, wry and romantic. And then the South African soprano Erica Eloff came into her own with six songs by Rachmaninov, presented with lovely pure tone and expressive phrasing. Mark Nixon excelled in the all-important piano parts, many of them in Rachmaninov’s most rhapsodic style. It was a treat to hear these songs, which, inexplicably, are not often featured on concert programmes. The exquisite Lilacs must be one of the most beautiful songs in the entire vocal repertory. Finally, there were songs by two English composers, Roger Quilter and Benjamin Britten.

The audience was not large but those present were certainly enthusiastic. Prolonged applause and cries of Bravo indicated their enjoyment of an evening of exceptional music-making. - Michael Green