CLASSICAL NOTES

Music Revival makes its presence felt in Durban music circles next week. (Column by William Charlton-Perkins, courtesy of The Mercury)

Three individual recital programmes will be presented at Howard College Theatre on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday consecutively. Each event starts at 19h30.

Launching the series on Tuesday August 25 , pianist Christopher Duigan performs his Celebrating Chopin II programme, widely acclaimed at this year’s National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Included in this programme are the Military Polonaise in A major, Etudes including the Black Key, Mazurka in F op 7, Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Ballade No 4 and the Barcarolle. Duigan’s Celebrating Chopin programmes have been presented in over 40 performances across South Africa since February this year. This concert is free, with donations collected after the performance.

Wednesday August 25 offers a fascinating double bill. The first half of the programme features music for Oboe, Viola and Piano, including Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro along with rarely-performed compositions by Schumann’s wife, Clara Wieck. The three instruments further combine in Two Rhapsodies by Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935) and Schilflieder by August Klughardt (1847-1902). The performers are leading soloists from the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra - Durban-born Magrit Deppe (oboe) and British-born Principal Viola, David Snaith with Duigan at the piano.

In the second part of the evening KZN’s resident concert-pianists Andrew Warburton and Christopher Duigan join forces for a much-anticipated collaboration. Established concert soloists in their own right, and used to having the entire stage to themselves, they combine their musical prowess at two pianos. Their programme includes Mozart’s Sonata in D major, Rachmaninoff’s Fantasie-Tableaux (from his Two Piano Suite No. 1), and a lively tail piece by George Gershwin. Tickets R60 (R30 concessions).

On Friday August 27, Music Revival presents soprano Bronwen Forbay and baritone Federico Freschi in an engaging operatic selection from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Lehar’s The Merry Widow and Verdi’s La Traviata. Also included is music from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Puccini’s La Bohème and Gounod’s Faust. Christopher Duigan at the piano accompanies. Booking is through Mandy Wilken on 031 260 3353.

Watch out for details about the KZN Philharmonic’s Spring Season programme of symphony concerts in tomorrow’s Mercury. This features a high quota of exciting new stars from the international concert circuit as well as some long established favourites, such as cellist Jerome Pernoo. I am intrigued to see that the brilliant French virtuoso is to perform one of the most exciting rarities in his country’s repertoire, the dazzlingly virtuosic Concerto Militaire by Jacques Offenbach.

Known in his day as ‘The Liszt of the Cello’, Offenbach composed this marathon piece for his own performance in 1848. The score subsequently disappeared. The first movement was rediscovered about ten years ago. When the rest of the piece subsequently resurfaced, Pernoo recorded the work in its entirety and the result was issued on Deutsche Gramophon’s Archive label in 2007. Besides the terrific demands it makes on the soloist as he exploits the technical extremities of the cello to the hilt, this pyrotechnical hire-wire act exudes all the musical and melodic ebullience one would expect from the composer of Orpheus in the Underworld and The Tales of Hoffmann. The recording is still available to online shoppers, under its original title, Romantique. It is certainly worth acquiring and will make a superb memento for those who have heard the piece live during the forthcoming concert season.

Finally a reminder that Friends of Music’s next recital on August 31 features the Trio Hemanay (comprising flautist Helen Vosloo, cellist Marian Lewin and pianist Malcolm Nay) playing music by Piazzolla, Hendrik Hofmeyr, Ravel and Rutter on August 31. This takes place at the Jewish Centre, 44 KE Masinga Road (formerly Old Fort Road) and begins at 19h45. Tickets R70 (R60 FOM members) through Computicket or at the door. Safe parking is available. For more information call 031 202 7822 or log onto www.friendsofmusic.co.za – William Charlton-Perkins