(Dr
Vera Dubin)
Engaging piano & clarinet duo recital (Review
by William Charlton-Perkins)
Friends of Music’s recital on Tuesday (November
14) was preceded by a reception at the Durban Jewish Centre. This was in honour
of Dr Vera Dubin, the association’s recently retired Chairperson, who founded
and has run Friends of Music since 1983.
In his address to Dr Dubin, longstanding
associate and FOM member Teddy Pillay said 93-year old Dubin had made an
immense contribution to the cultural life of Durban, both in keeping the music
society alive and thriving, and through her fostering the careers of countless
young artists over the years. The warm esteem in which she is held by the many
members at Tuesday’s function was palpable. FOM’s management is now in the
capable hands of Keith Millar, who has worked in Durban’s music and creative
industry for the past four decades.
The evening’s duo recitalists, Joanna
Wicherek (piano) and Tiaan Uys (clarinet), took a calculated risk in presenting
a programme made up entirely of little-known 20th century repertoire, without
‘sugaring the pill’ with any recognizable lollipops. Their risk paid off, as
their cleverly chosen items, by and large, proved accessible to their
listeners. Indeed, I thought the colourful opening piece, Suite Italienne by the French composer Eugène Bozza (1905 – 1991),
bordered on easy-listening of the palm court, salon music ilk.
If the next piece, Wiatr od morza (Wind from the sea) by Polish composer Jacek
Grudzien (b 1961), proved more of a ‘hard sell’, it was nonetheless enlivened
by the integrity and vitality of its ever-alert interpreters, who were clearly
at pains to get its descriptive qualities across without distorting the impact
of sudden silences, punctuated by elliptical runs and leaps to convey the rise
and fall of nature’s flow.
The duo had a ball when it came to
performing the quirky four-movement Time
Pieces by Polish-American Pulitzer Prize nominee Robert Muczniki (1929 –
2010), sending a delighted audience off to take a breather before launching the
second half of the evening.
This opened with Dance Preludes by Polish master, Witold Lutoslawski (1913 – 1994).
The light-hearted nature of its effectively juxtaposed five short movements was
conveyed with panache, as were the idiosyncratically quirky charms of Poulenc’s
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. The duo’s programme concluded with a lively
account of Four Hungarian Dances (No 2, 1 and 4) by the Hungarian composer,
Rezso Kokai (1906 – 1962).
Lungelo Hlophe, the evening’s 18 year-old Prelude
Performer - a Grade 12 learner at Lihlithemba Technical High School, who came
second in the recent I Grandi Tenori Schools Opera Singing Competition -
acquitted himself with a touching performance of the aria iJadu by Qinsela Sibisi. If his attempt at performing Don Octavio’s
notoriously exposed aria, Dalla sua pace,
from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni
proved less successful (it was sung at a cripplingly slow tempo), Hlophe
nonetheless demonstrated that his beautiful lyric tenor voice is one to watch,
as it clearly has the potential to take him far. He was accompanied by Bobby
Mills. - William Charlton-Perkins
For
more information on Friends of Music visit http://www.friendsofmusic.co.za/
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