(Hrachya
Avanesyan)
Violinist of extraordinary and spectacular
gifts captivates Friends of Music, (Review by Michael Green)
A violinist of extraordinary and
spectacular gifts captivated the audience at the most recent concert, in the
Durban Jewish Centre, of the Friends of Music.
His name is Hrachya Avanesyan, he is 27
years old, and he comes from Armenia, the small country which borders Turkey
and which is known for its champion chess players.
Hrachya now lives in Belgium, where he
moved with his family when he was 16. He has built up a formidable record of
concert appearances in Europe and the Far East, and it is easy to see and hear
why he has been successful. He is the virtuoso par excellence: tall, long hair, a flamboyant style of
playing, and an exceptional technique with his 1717 Stradivarius violin.
His partner in this concert was the South
African pianist Pieter Jacobs who, incidentally, has doctorates in music and
electronic engineering. He is one of our best ensemble players but, inevitably,
this occasion was dominated by the swoops and thrusts of the violinist.
The first half of the programme presented
two rather seldom played sonatas by Robert Schumann and Claude Debussy. The Schumann Sonata in A minor, Op. 105,
dating from 1851, is a compelling work, with a forceful, impassioned first
movement, a graceful, melodious second movement, and a rapid, brilliant finale
(here Pieter Jacobs was highly impressive at the keyboard). The performance was
excellent, with the violinist producing a lovely, rounded tone.
Debussy’s Violin Sonata, the composer’s
last work before his death in 1918, has a sense of nostalgia and many haunting
phrases for both instruments. The performance was subtle, atmospheric and
totally enjoyable.
After the interval came a kind of
pot-pourri of well-known items arranged for violin, and here Hrachya the
virtuoso gave a quite astonishing display of his powers. The pieces were: Fritz Kreisler’s version of a Spanish dance
by Manuel de Falla; arrangements of two operatic arias, Soft Awakes My Heart from Saint Saens’s Samson and Delila, and Lensky’s aria from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin; Richard Strauss’s song Morgen (Tomorrow), arranged by the
Latvian cellist Mischa Maisky; and a
“Carmen Fantasy” by the German-American composer Franz Waxman.
This last was described by the violinist
(in very good English) as “most difficult”, an understatement, one would think.
The violin pyrotechnics and the exuberance of the player roused the audience to
a pitch of enthusiasm, and a standing ovation at the end.
The Prelude Performers of the evening,
funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, were Zenneth Cibane,
soprano, and Edward Phiri, baritone, both music teachers in KZN and both
experienced singers. They showed good, powerful voices and a confident,
attractive stage presence as they sang arias from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. - Michael Green
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