(Ben
Schoeman)
KZNPO programme arranged to mark the coming
BRICS meeting in Durban. (Review by Michael Green)
Members of the audience in the Durban City
Hall for the last concert of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra’s summer season
must have been surprised to hear familiar strains of Tchaikovsky presented as
Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite tune.
Late changes in the performed programme
were not reflected in the printed programme, which listed the first item as an
arrangement of a Hindu devotional song. In fact the concert opened with the
well-known Polonaise and Waltz from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin. Somebody had decided that the original programme was
too short, so these two items were included (and were very well played under
the skilful baton of the Chinese conductor En Chao).
The programme was arranged to mark the
coming BRICS meeting in Durban and it featured music from India, Brazil and
Russia, with a compositional role for South Africa and a Chinese
conductor. The most unusual item was an
arrangement for orchestra of the Hindu song Raghupati
Raghav Raja Ram, Gandhi’s favourite. The song is seen as advancing the idea
of the unity of religions.
The arrangement was made by Naum Rousine, a
violinist in the orchestra and one of its resident conductors. He was born in
Russia but has lived in South Africa for 21 years. His arrangement turned out to
be a deft fusion of Indian tonalities and rhythms with a traditional western
style. The result was an attractive atmospheric piece, quite gentle but rising
to a big climax. The Indian influence was emphasised by the inclusion of a
sitar, the many-stringed instrument that resembles a guitar, and the tabla, a
pair of small hand drums.
The 30-year-old Pretoria pianist Ben
Schoeman was the soloist in the Bachianas
Brasileiras No. 3 by the 20th century Brazilian composer, Heitor
Villa-Lobos. This is another combination of two very different cultures, the
folk music of Brazil and the baroque music of Europe exemplified by Johann
Sebastian Bach.
It is brilliant, clever, strong, direct,
basic music, and the performance was excellent. Ben Schoeman is one of South
Africa’s best pianists. He played from the score, with the help of a
page-turner, but that did not seem to inhibit him in any way, and he delivered
Villa-Lobos’s rapid repeated notes and thundering octaves with great aplomb and
assurance.
In response to much applause he played a
delightful little children’s piece by Villa-Lobos.
Finally, the orchestra gave a very good
performance of one of Tchaikovsky’s lesser-known symphonies, No., 2, called the
Little Russian because much of it is based on the folk music of the Ukraine,
known in his time as “Little Russia”. - Michael Green
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