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Friday, June 29, 2018

KZNPO CLOSING WINTER SEASON CONCERT REVIEW


Mixed bag of classics

William Charlton-Perkins reviews the closing Winter Season concert of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2018 World Symphony Series which took place on June 28 in the Playhouse Opera

Conductors: Cathrine Winnes, Msizi Mnyandu
Soloists: Nozuko Teto, Siphokazi Maphumulu (sopranos), Ntokozo Mhlongo (alto), Khulekani Khumalo (tenor), Andile Dlamini (bass)
Choirs: Clermont Community Choir, Durban Symphonic Choir, Thokozani Choral Society

(Cathrine Winnes)

The KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Winter Season in the Playhouse Opera ended on Thursday. Perplexingly. With Norwegian Cathrine Winne on the podium, we had an evening of music making that had the orchestra sounding as if they were playing on autopilot. Not a player out of sync, meticulously rehearsed, dispatching the goods like the pros they are. Each musician on stage with eyes unremittingly trained on the score in front of them, all the while Ms Winnes a determined presence on the podium, literally delivering every beat, every cue, with palpable determination, as if consciously underscoring her agents’ online pronouncement that “Cathrine’s energetic musical style has seen her transcend classical music’s usual boundaries.”

Usual boundaries? What we had in the first half were readings of Beethoven’s Fidelio Overture and Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony that struck this listener as described above, sparsely nuanced, short on fantasy and poetry, but yes, big on energy that had a beginning, middle and end.

(Nozuko Teto)

The second half of the evening offered a mixed bag of vocal and choral items which, thanks to the evening’s soloists and massed chorus, provided more aural ‘face’ to the proceedings. Following a full throated account of Handel’s Coronation Anthem, ‘Zadok the Priest’, soprano Nozuko Teto gave a sensitive rendering of Merab’s touching aria, ‘Author of Peace’ from Act 2 of Handel’s oratorio Saul. This was followed by committed accounts of John Knox Bokwe’s ‘Plea for Africa’, and Mnomiya’s ‘Madiba’ – a timeous centennial nod to our illustrious former President, Nelson Mandela, with Brian Msizi Mnyandu on the podium.

Sibisi’s Credo (Ngiyakholwa) from his Zulu Mass in B flat, suggesting a large-scale Haydn choral ensemble, received a whole-hearted outing, followed by an appropriately doleful Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem. If the inclusion of Haydn’s climactic ‘The heavens are telling the glory of God’ from The Creation less than a year after it was last performed on the World Symphony Series stage denoted an unwonted degree of repetitive programming, it nonetheless provided a rousing close. - William Charlton-Perkins

To link direct to the KZN Philharmonic’s website click on the orchestra’s banner advert on the top of the page or visit kznphil.org.za