More please. And soon!
(William Charlton-Perkins reviews a Friends
of Music recital held at the Durban Jewish Club on October 9, 2018)
Andrew
Warburton (Piano)
In the wake of an exhilarating concert, a
reviewer needs must step back a while, and wait, to avoid resorting to
hyperbole in appraising the magic that has been experienced. That said, I cannot recall when last I was
party to such an audience ‘rush’ as this FOM event accorded those of us who
came to enjoy an evening of Dvořák, Mozart and Gabriel Fauré, dispatched by
four of Durban’s finest at the peak of their form.
Clearly, 2018 will go down as Andrew
Warburton’s Annus Mirabilis. On Tuesday, the pianist thrilled admirers by
capping a recent series of critically acclaimed recitals in KwaZulu-Natal, with
a display of the finest ensemble playing, superbly matched in three of the
repertoire’s most taxing scores, by his remarkable colleagues, violinist
Violeta Osorhean, violist David Snaith and cellist Aristide du Plessis.
Violeta
Osorhean (Violin)
If ever the dictum of American mezzo
soprano, Joyce DiDonato, one of today’s leading opera stars, needed
underscoring, namely that unstinting work must go into the preparation for a
performance, for an artist to be free to fly to untold heights, this was one
such occasion. Not only were the hours of dedicated practice palpable that
these four players had put them themselves through, but also the sheer
commitment and enjoyment that came with it.
David
Snaith (Viola)
And how the results showed, as they took on
- and relished - the challenges embedded in the rigours and wonderful scapes of
nature found in Dvorak’s youthful D Major Piano Quartet Opus 23; then going on
to strike a dizzying balancing act, as they enacted the tumultuous drama of
Mozart’s G minor Quartet K478; before scaling the heights of Faure’s hugely
daunting C minor Piano Quartet Opus 15, probing with fine restraint, the heart
ache of the great work’s profoundly moving third movement Adagio.
Aristide
du Plessis (Cello)
Random sound images from the evening’s
listening keep recurring. The exquisite, pin-prick delicacy of the three string
player’s pizzicati, lightly tossed from one to the next; Osorhean’s
finely-etched, lavishly-sustained legato line, her shimmering pianissimo tone;
Snaith’s ‘old soul’ capacity to listen, and to meld his burnished playing with
the sonorities of his colleagues’ delivery; the warm, vibrant groundswell of du
Plessis’s lush sound; and, endlessly satisfying, Warburton’s indefatigable virtuosity,
his matchless command of style from one piece to the next.
More please. And soon.
Foot note: Osorhean’s fledgling pupils,
pianist-violinist Weien Amy Luo (10) and violinist Xizhi Aiden Luo (7) made
endearing appearances in the evening’s Prelude Performers slot. – William Charlton-Perkins
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