(James
Grace & Morgan Szymanski)
An evening to remember. (Review by Stavros
Anthias)
Tuesday’s (March 27, 2018) Friends of Music
recital at The Durban Jewish Centre was held in association with Christopher
Duigan’s Music Revival. Both associations strive to provide programmes of
musical excellence to music-lovers within the province.
Aptly titled Together Again, the recital featured classical guitarists James
Grace, from Cape Town, and Morgan Szymanski, from Mexico City, who have been on
a national tour, presenting an eclectic programme of Latin music, either
written for, or especially arranged for classical guitar. (Music from Spain,
Mexico, and Brazil featured) They previously toured the country as a duo in
2015.
The music ranged from compositions by
Ferdinando Carulli (1770 - 1841) to modern day composers Celso Machado (b 1953)
and Paulo Bellinati (b 1950) Szymanski has personally collaborated with some of
the modern composers.
It was such a treat hearing two, classical
guitars in such sympathetic unison, each soloist complimenting the other
beautifully. They have fine-tuned their collaboration, so that the emphasis
seamlessly flowed from one soloist to the other.
Excellent finger-work was the order of the
evening, with beautiful tone and colour being abundantly evident from each
soloist.
For me, the highlights of the evening were
the hauntingly beautiful Recuerdos de la
Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909) which vividly evokes the famous
fountains of The Alhambra in Granada, and Danza
Española from La Vida Bréve by
Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
The more modern compositions featured
interesting strumming and patting of the strings, and the “banging” of the
guitars to provide some intricate, rhythmic percussion.
The joy of an evening in the hands of these
two accomplished soloists was not only hearing well-known favourites, but to be
exposed to new material, and to have one’s musical horizons expanded.
The performers received warm applause from
a very appreciative audience, and it was certainly an evening to remember.
The Prelude Performer was Sbani Mwelasi, a
baritone with a rich, powerful voice, who gave an impressive performance of
arias from Verdi’s Macbeth and
Rossini’s Barber of Seville. –
Stavros Anthias
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