(Richard Cock)
It was a festive and entertaining occasion filled
with fine music, very well performed. (Review by Keith Millar)
A favourite event on the music programme at the
National Arts Festival in Grahamstown every year is the Festival Gala Concert.
This year was no different as the Guy Butler Theatre at the 1820 Settlers
Monument was filled to capacity for this concert of light classical and
contemporary music. Featuring the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted
by the ever-popular Richard Cock.
The concert was sub-titled All Strings Attached and it included cellist Abel Selaocoe and
violinist Patrick Goodwin as soloists.
Selaocoe is a South African now based in the UK and
was the Standard Bank Young Artist for Music Award winner at the festival this
year. He is a versatile musician who is interested in exploring the capacity of
the cello across genres, from collaborating with beatboxers, folk and world
musicians, to giving concerto performances and solo classical recitals.
He is an expressive performer who generates a rich
textured tone from his instrument. He performed David Popper’s Hungarian Rhapsody and two traditional
African pieces arranged by himself. He employed a traditional vocalisation
effect during the first piece which harmonised beautifully with the cello. It
went down very well with the audience.
Selaocoe’s second African piece, which also served
as an encore, was a haunting lullaby. He taught the audience the words of the
song and they were encouraged to sing along.
Violinist Patrick Goodwin is the
concertmaster of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Born in Windhoek, Namibia Goodwin is now a Cape Town resident. He has
appeared as a featured soloist with various orchestras, and in recital around
South Africa.
He gave impressive and evocative performances of the
Meditation from Thais by Jules
Massenet and the alluring gypsy-like Czardas
composed in 1904 by Italian Vittorio Monti.
Goodwin and Selaocoe also performed a haunting duo
called Por Una Cabeza which was
featured in the Al Pacino movie The Scent
of a Woman.
Conductor and entertainer Richard Cock was at his
charming best as he kept the audience entertained with anecdotes and quips
about the music.
He conducted the orchestra with flamboyance and élan
for a variety of marvellous music titbits which included The Entertainer by
Scott Joplin, Dance of the Tumblers by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Emperor Waltz by Johann
Strauss, Mull of Kintyre by Paul McCartney (complete with bagpipes)
and the Pomp & Circumstance March, No.1 by Edward Elgar.
The Festival Gala Concert was a long event, lasting
well over two hours including the interval. But it mattered not at all. It was
a festive and entertaining occasion filled with fine music, very well
performed. The happy audience showed their appreciation to the accomplished
CPO, the soloists and the conductor with an extended standing ovation at the
end. – Keith Millar
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