(Avigail
Bushakevitz)
Avigail Bushakevitz gives splendid
performance of Mozart violin concerto. (Review by Michael Green)
Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 was the
superior item on the programme of the last concert of the KZN Philharmonic’s
summer season in the Durban City Hall.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the king of
concerto writers: 27 for the piano, five for solo violin, and others for horn,
clarinet, flute, bassoon and various combinations. The five violin works were
written in Salzburg in 1775, when the composer was 19 years old. They are all
lovely, and No. 5, in A major, K.219, is generally reckoned to be the finest,
an astonishing achievement for a boy of 19.
This composition was given a splendid
performance by the 26-year-old violinist Avigail Bushakevitz, who was born in
Jerusalem but came to South Africa when she was one year old and grew up at
George in the Cape.A graduate of the Juilliard School in New York, she has at a
relatively tender age built up extensive concert experience here and in America
and Europe. She has played in Durban
before, and in this latest appearance she amply confirmed the glowing opinions
formed earlier by those who have heard her.
Her tone, phrasing and dynamics were first
class, and she showed the skills of a true virtuoso in the concerto’s joyous
rapid passages.
The orchestra, under the direction of the
visiting German conductor Frank Cramer, were again in fine form. Mozart’s graceful and effortless flow of
melody was articulated with accuracy and style, and the results were warmly
applauded by the audience.
The concert opened with a spirited account
of Weber’s well-known overture to his opera Der
Freischutz, The Marksman, and after the interval we had Mendelssohn’s Symphony
No 5 in D minor, the Reformation Symphony, so named because
it was written for a major anniversary of the Lutheran church.
There are some ironies here. Mendelssohn
had a Jewish background and he, with other members of his family, became
Lutherans for reasons of convenience rather than conviction. This symphony was
written when he was 20 years old and it is, I think, portentous rather than
profound (the composer himself did not care for it much). Nevertheless it has
its moments, particularly in the famous Dresden
Amen in the first movement, in the typically Mendelssohnian Vivace of the
second movement, and in the scoring for the brass instruments.
It is not the greatest symphony ever
written, but the orchestra gave a fine and
convincing performance of it. - Michael Green
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