(Pallavi Mahidhara)
Pallavi’s playing was thrilling to hear and to see. (Review
by Michael Green)
The outstanding Indian/American pianist Pallavi Mahidhara
presented a programme of unusual interest when she gave a recital for the
Friends of Music at the Durban Jewish Centre.
Ranging from early 19th century romantic to late 20th
century ultra-modern, the programme gave her plenty of opportunity to show her
skills as a virtuoso and as a poetic interpreter.
She opened with Brahms’s arrangement for the left hand alone
of Bach’s celebrated Chaconne, written originally (300 years ago) for the solo
violin. This magnificent work, a set of variations on a basic theme, is
probably best known in the (two hand) piano transcription made by Ferrucio
Busoni in 1893. The Brahms version is rich and resonant, and Pallavi produced a
remarkable performance, sweeping majestically through its many difficulties and
revealing in full its many contrapuntal patterns and colours.
We moved to more familiar ground with Franz Schubert’s Four
Impromptus of Op. 90, written in 1827. These beautiful pieces were played
expressively and imposingly, with a featherlight touch in the rapid passages
and with great strength in the music’s big moments. Pallavi Mahidhara is a
slender young woman but she generates great power at the keyboard.
The modern era was represented by three of Luciano Berio’s
rather optimistically named Six Encores,
written between 1965 and 1990. This Italian composer (1925-2003) was known for
his experimental work, with particular reference to electronic music. His
Encores are interesting but not really attractive for the ordinary listener.
Finally the pianist gave a demonstration of supreme
virtuosity in Franz Liszt’s six Grand Etudes de Paganini, showpiece versions of
compositions by Niccolo Paganini, the celebrated violin composer. Two of these
are well-known: La Campanella (The
Little Bell) and the last of the six, based on a Paganini Caprice that has been
used for variations by, inter alia, Brahms and Rachmaninov.
Pallavi’s playing was thrilling to hear and to see, and the
audience responded by giving her a standing ovation at the end.
The prelude performer of the evening, supported by the
National Lotteries Commission, was Tasmin Hastings, a 13-year-old violinist
from Durban Girls’ College. Accompanied at the piano by David Smith she played
music by Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. - Michael Green
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