(Hrachya Avanesyan)
Memorable performances in programme of boisterous and
dramatic music. (Review by Michael Green)
Two stars shone brightly in the third concert of the KZN
Philharmonic Orchestra’s spring season in the Durban City Hall. One was the
Armenian violinist Hrachya Avanesyan; the other was the Israeli-American
conductor Daniel Boico.
Avanesyan, who is 29 and now lives in Belgium, is a newcomer
to Durban. He made a great impression in a relatively little known work, the
Violin Concerto by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931). Written in
1911, this composition is not aggressively modern; it has recognisable
melodies, a rather diffuse structure, and a brilliant role for the soloist.
Avanesyan, who plays a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin,
surmounted the technical difficulties with high skill and produced a pure,
sweet tone in the many lyrical passages. The orchestra was an admirable partner
in a highly successful performance.
Following an ovation from the audience Avanesyan played a
delightful encore, Paganini’s Carnival of
Venice, a virtuoso arrangement of a folk song, with a pizzicato
accompaniment from the orchestra’s strings.
Daniel Boico is a regular visitor to Durban and a favourite
with concertgoers here. On this occasion he excelled in a programme of
boisterous and dramatic music.
The concert opened with Liszt’s famous Hungarian Rhapsody
No. 2, possibly the most famous piano piece ever written and presented here in
an orchestral arrangement by a German musician, Karl Muller-Berghaus. Boico
conducted this with great verve and obvious enjoyment, and the orchestra
responded in like fashion.
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor is a big, powerful
work, and the players and the conductor revelled in its brilliant
orchestration. It has its quiet moments, notably the remarkable pizzicato third
movement, plucked strings only, with a little intervention from the woodwind,
but the dominant mood is one of drama and tension.
The KZNPO gave a memorable performance, from the ominous
opening brass fanfare to the final volcanic conclusion, and their playing was
much appreciated by the audience – and the conductor. - Michael Green
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