(Nokuthla Ngwenyama)
Viola soloist performs with superb skill, emotion and
subtlety. (Review by Michael Green)
An American performer of African and Asian descent was the
principal figure in the last concert, in the Durban City Hall, of the KZN
Philharmonic Orchestra’s winter season.
Nokuthula Ngwenyama is an unusual musician in many respects.
Born in California 40 years ago, she is the daughter of a Zimbabwean father and
a Japanese mother. She is one of the world’s top viola players and she is a
composer.
Educated musically in the United States and France, she also
has a master’s degree in theological studies from Harvard University.
She married a Jewish Ukrainian and she says she herself is a
follower of Judaism, being descended from the Lemba people in Zimbabwe who are
called Africa’s “black Jews”; they claim that their forebears migrated many
centuries ago from the Arabian peninsula.
She lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Her names mean “peace” and
“lion”. She has two children now aged six and nine.
And she plays the viola with superb skill, emotion and
subtlety, as her Durban audience heard.
This was not her first appearance here. Twelve years ago she
played with the KZNPO and, reviewing that performance at the time, I wrote that
she was obviously a highly gifted young musician. Since then she has
established herself firmly in the top rank internationally.
This time she played two works with the orchestra, both of
unusual interest. The first was a Viola Concerto in C minor supposedly written
by Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782), a son of Johann Sebastian, but in fact
written by a French violist, Henri-Gustave Casadesus, about 1947. He presented
it as J.C. Bach’s work until the deception was revealed, and it is now usually
labelled “in the style of J.C. Bach”.
No matter, it is a fine piece of work, and it gave Nokuthula
ample opportunity to display her technical skills and full, rich tone. The slow
movement in particular produced really beautiful playing.
Nokuthla Ngwenyama then played a work which she herself
composed, Sonoran Storm, a ten-minute
piece for viola and orchestra that describes a storm in the Sonora Desert that
covers parts of Arizona and California. The programme listed it as a world
premiere but in fact the first performance was in Los Angeles three months ago.
It is very attractive, atmospheric, accessible and melodious
music, and, predictably, the composer gave a vivid and highly enjoyable
performance.
The conductor of the evening was Carlos Izcaray, a young
Venezuelan who has visited Durban before and is now in charge of an orchestra
in Alabama. Under his direction the orchestra opened with a first-rate
performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, the Haffner, named after the Salzburg
family who commissioned it in 1782.
The big work of the concert was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8
in F major, lighter in mood than many of the composer’s works but powerful and
compelling. The orchestra brought the winter season to a triumphant conclusion
with an outstanding performance of this masterpiece. - Michael Green
(To link direct to the
KZN Philharmonic’s website click on the orchestra’s banner advert on the top
right hand of the page)
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