(Prelude Performers: Erina Nishii and Emiri Nishii)Thoroughly enjoyable account of music that beguiled King Louis XV of France in 1752. (Review by Michael Green)
Jean Jacques Rousseau, the political philosopher of eighteenth century Geneva (“Man is born free but is everywhere in chains”), was a composer of distinction, admired in his own time but little remembered in this context today.
To mark the 300th anniversary of his birth, the Durban-based Baroque 2000 presented, in conjunction with the Friends of Music, a concert performance of Rousseau’s one-act opera Le Devin du Village (the Soothsayer of the Village). This was not an opera production; the venue was the Durban Jewish Centre and there were no costumes, sets or any attempts at acting. Nevertheless, the three singers and the Baroque 2000, a 16-member chamber orchestra, gave a thoroughly enjoyable account of music that beguiled King Louis XV of France in 1752.
The story is simple. Colin and Colette love each other but each suspects the other, wrongly, of being unfaithful. They go to the village soothsayer, who eventually sorts out their problems, to a final rousing chorus of La, la, la, with members of the orchestra cheerfully joining in.
The music is light, tuneful, effervescent, not particularly memorable but very attractive. Lauren Dasappa, who is apparently the only Indian soprano in the country, sang the role of Colette accurately and confidently. Azola Mabutho, a bass-baritone who is a student at the University of KZN, presented the part of the soothsayer with a powerful and expressive voice that should develop further in due course. The role of Colin was taken by Warren Vernon-Driscoll, a Kearsney College pupil. He displayed a pleasant light, well-trained tenor. He too should develop further as his voice matures.
All three singers sat at the side of the auditorium taking centre stage as needed, and they sang holding scores and turning pages. Sensibly enough, they did not try to create any visual sense of opera.
The Baroque 2000 players are nearly all members of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, skilled professionals, and they played the vigorous orchestral part with zest and obvious enjoyment. A good-sized audience rewarded the performers with enthusiastic applause at the end.
Earlier the chamber orchestra played Concerto Grosso No. 12 by Giovanni Henrico Albicastro (1670-1738), a stylish example of baroque music with a particularly eloquent slow movement. Albicastro’s curriculum vitae is as interesting as his music. He was a German named Heinrich von Biswang who changed to Albicastro because of the popularity of Italian musicians. He was a soldier, serving as a cavalry officer for a dozen years, and he was also a virtuoso violinist. An all-rounder, you might say.
The Prelude Performers of the evening, supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, were two more young violinists with eastern origins. Erina Nishii (aged 14) and Emiri Nishii (9) are sisters who come from Japan and are now pupils at Crawford College, La Lucia. They were almost the stars of the evening as they played music by, of all composers, Shostakovich, a delightful three-movement duet, and the well-known Meditation from Massenet’s Thais. - Michael Green
Friends of Music acknowledges the support of the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.
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