(Ammiel Bushakevitz)High technical skills, interpretative insight, and rapport from talented siblings.
When the violinist Avigail Bushakevitz first played in Durban nearly ten years ago, she was a schoolgirl who showed great musical promise.
She is now an accomplished and mature artist, as is her brother, the pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz. This was absolutely clear from their latest appearance for the Friends of Music at the Durban Jewish Centre. In a wide-ranging programme of music that would have been mainly unfamiliar to the audience, they demonstrated high technical skills, interpretative insight, and the rapport one would expect from siblings two years apart.
They were both born in Israel - she in 1988, he in 1986 - but moved to South Africa with their parents when they were very young and grew up at George, in the Western Cape. Musical education in South Africa was followed by lengthy periods of study in the United States (Avigail) and Germany (Ammiel). They are now poised and experienced performers, confident in their abilities and pleasantly unmannered on the stage.
They opened their recital with Schubert’s Sonata in A major, D. 574, an ineffably melodious and blissful kind of composition, especially the first movement. It was played with grace and fluency, and with the singing cantabile tone appropriate for Schubert’s lyricism.
Then, in complete contrast, came Bartok’s second violin and piano sonata, a two-movement work. Written 90 years ago it is still challenging to listen to, with its harsh dissonances and relentless rhythms. It was played with virtuoso skill, from both performers, and, predictably, it elicited a mixed response from members of the audience. “Lovely and exciting”, said a man near me. “Just noise”, said the person sitting next to him.
It is worth noting perhaps that, in all the works on the programme, the performers were equal partners; there was no question of the pianist being an “accompanist”.
After the interval came the beautiful romantic Poeme by Ernest Chausson (1855-1899), better known in its original version for violin and orchestra; a typically attractive Meditation by Tchaikovsky; and a vigorous five-movement Partita written in the modern style by the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994).
In response to prolonged applause the performers played a lively short piece by Bartok.
The Prelude Performer of the evening, funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, was Brett Alborough, an accomplished clarinet player who is a Masters student in music at the University of KZN. With Jacques Heyns at the piano he played Schumann’s three Fantasy Pieces, Op 73, high quality short works that are written, optionally, for clarinet or cello. A very good performance was warmly applauded. - Michael Green
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