(Sodi
Braide)
(Apologies: This review was originally attributed to A-J Bethke by mistake. Bethke's review to follow)
Braide’s finest feature was his ability to
convey the deep meaning inherent in Mozart’s strategically-placed rest
passages. (Review by Martin Goldstein)
The KZNPO concert on June 13, 2019 featured
a pleasing programme comprised three fairly well-known and much-loved works.
These were Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Overture to Idomeneo, K. 366, also his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488
and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 in g minor, Op. 13, Winter Daydreams.
Mozart’s Idomeneo was born out of a troubled time in the composer’s life
subsequent to his protracted tours in 1777-1779 at the age of 21. During this
period, he fell prey to the charms of Aloysia Weber, his mother passed away and
he failed to secure a post. He was still finding himself both emotionally and
in terms of his compositional skill. While some have connected the sense of pathos
in the opera to these circumstances, the overture itself is imbued more with a
sense of anxiety than of pathos.
Indeed, in their performance, the KZNPO
started out with the sort of confidence which the young Mozart had to muster up
in composing this, one of his earlier operas. The tempo was upbeat and each
subgroup in the orchestra was aware of its role in the overall narrative. The
woodwinds once again, as with the other concerts in this series, really shone.
This is imperative considering Mozart’s predilection for this class of
instruments in his ensemble writing.
The piano concerto belongs to the class of
Mozart’s more mature works and is earmarked as one of the most jarring
juxtapositions of childlike ebullience against deep tragedy. The iconic slow
movement is a cornerstone of the concert repertoire and bridges the gap between
our corporeal concerns and the otherworldly in an eerie sense. The pianist,
Sodi Braide, played without a trace of pretence and was completely at home in
every sense – with the orchestra, the genre and with his own sense of pianistic
proficiency. A notably slow tempo was selected for the performance as a whole
and at times, the size of the orchestra overpowered the piano.
Bradie displayed an impressive legato
technique in conjunction with considerable agility. His finest feature was his
ability to convey the deep meaning inherent in Mozart’s strategically-placed
rest passages. For his encore, Braide played Bach’s Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring. The tone in his playing is so well-cultivated
that he made the piano sound like a whole choir with the individual voices
clearly discernible.
While much fuss is made about how
Tchaikovsky only found his footing as a composer of symphonies with his last
symphony and how his writing up until that point was an ongoing war between his
Slavic spontaneity and the Germanic ideals of form, his first symphony is
surprisingly mature in its economic use of thematic material and its
imaginative orchestration.
The orchestra certainly did justice to this
work in their performance, maintaining a feeling of suspense throughout with a
well-judged tempo. The second movement showcased the tone quality which the
KZNPO is known for generating in the slower movements and the soulful
melancholy of the oboe stood as one of the nicest features of the concert. – Martin Goldstein
The
fourth and final concert of the season takes place next week, Thursday June 20,
2019, at 19h30 in the Durban City Hall. 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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