Music making to remember.
William Charlton-Perkins reviews the third
Spring Season concert of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2018 Word
Symphony Series in the Durban City Hall on November 15, 2018.
(Conductor Yasuo Shinozaki)
It was great to experience the compact
energy of Yasuo Shinozaki back on the KZNPO podium for Thursday’s penultimate
concert of the Orchestra’s 2018 season. The Japanese maestro pulled out the
stops to deliver a cracker of a concert with his players on top form throughout
the evening.
Mendelssohn wrote his 1833 concert overture
Fair Melusina as a birthday gift for
his beloved sister Fanny. Loosely illustrative of the legend of Melusina, a
water-nymph who marries a Count and lives with him before returning to her
watery milieu when he breaks a pact, this evocative but rarely heard piece made
an enchanting curtain raiser, introduced by its miasma of quietly swirling
winds and strings, giving way intermittently to more rigorous writing for full
orchestra, then punctuated by the recurrence of the murmuring opening theme,
which highlighted in particular the ravishing playing of the orchestra’s
nonpareil of a first clarinet, Junnan Sun, as the work resolved itself into
gentle repose.
The serenity of Samuel Barber’s
hypnotically haunting Adagio for Strings, perhaps the 20th Century American
composer’s most iconic creation, offered an interlude of beautifully honed
quiet for the orchestra’s string players to shine. And shine they did, as the
exchange of material passed from the celli to the first violins, then spread
throughout the entire section to end in a magical space that hung in the air as
the audience held its breath in suspended silence for seconds on end.
(Clarinet
soloist, Robert Pickup)
South African-born virtuoso, Robert Pickup,
Principal Clarinetist of the Philharmonia Zurich Orchestra, took the spotlight
as the evening’s soloist in one of the repertoire’s most thrilling showpieces -
Carl Maria von Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No 1 in F minor. This magnificently
operatic the work was written for Weber’s clarinet muse, Heinrich Bärmann,
prince of early 19th century clarinetists, renowned for his exceptional
technique and beautiful sound. Small wonder it is embraced by clarinet virtuosi
to this day. Pickup certainly did it proud. His sumptuously gleaming tone and
relaxed legato line in the work’s middle movement, were gorgeously enhanced by
the French horn trio that stepped forward to accompany him, while his puckish,
almost laid back command of the bravura
writing in the outer movements providing visceral thrills aplenty.
The programme climaxed with another inspired
work - Robert Schumann’s Spring Symphony,
the German Romantic composer’s first symphonic foray, written in 1841 as an
utterance of the overflowing love he felt for his newly wed spouse, the
renowned concert pianist, Clara Wieck. Pacing himself and his players
throughout the life affirming journey of this four movement work, with its
exultant celebration of spring, Shinozaki and his players’ surefooted ascent to
its blazing conclusion provoked a storm of applause for what was a highpoint of
the 2018 World Symphony Series. - 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)
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