Five performers gave much pleasure with an interesting
programme. (Review by Michael Green)
With many gifted instrumentalists available in Durban and
Pietermaritzburg, there is obviously much scope for chamber music performances,
and the latest concert of the Friends of Music, at the Durban Jewish Centre,
made good use of the opportunity.
Five performers played music ranging from the 18th century
to the 20th. It was an interesting programme and it gave much pleasure to a big
audience.
The four string players were all past and present members of
the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra: GezaKayser
(violin), Jitske Brien (violin), Nigel Fish (cello) and Claire Hamilton
(viola). The fifth member of the group was David Smith, music educationist,
pianist and harpsichordist.
They opened with a “Trio Sonata” by the 18th century Italian
composer PietroLocatelli, played by the two violinists and the cellist, with
David Smith at the harpsichord.
This four-movement work is typical of its time and place
and, as David Smith’s programme notes observed, it “aims to create a pleasant
mood”. The playing was first-rate.
Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella
ballet music is probably well-known to many listeners but not in the form
presented here, an arrangement for violin and piano made by the composer and
the American violinist Samuel Dushkin.
This lovely music is derived from the 18th century composer Giovanni
Pergolesi. GezaKayser and David Smith played it with appropriate grace and
delicacy.
Music of a different kind came with the String Quartet, Op.
64 No. 3, by Joseph Haydn, one of the greatest composers of chamber music. The
performance by the four very experienced and accomplished string players was,
again, of top quality.
The high point of the evening, however, was without question
Schubert’s Piano Trio in B flat, Op. 99, played by Geza Kayser, Nigel Fish and
David Smith. The first movement was all the better for being taken at a
deliberate, unrushed, tempo, and the performance as a whole was well-balanced
and did full justice to this beautiful music.
The audience gave enthusiastic applause after this final
item in a long programme.
The Prelude Performer of the evening, supported by the
National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, was 12-year-old Rachel
Wedderburn-Maxwell, a pupil at Durban Girls’ College. She played a Debussy
Arabesque and the Impromptu Op. 90 No. 4 by Schubert. The latter is a difficult
piece for so young a performer but she played it with confidence and dexterity.
- Michael Green
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