Ms Bovell also channelled the orchestral part of the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in just the right way to allow Pallavi Mahidhara to project an utterly convincing account of the solo part. (Review by David Smith)
The KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra’s second concert of the Early Spring Season, was held on August 29, 2024. Conducted by Kalena Bovell with pianist Pallavi Mahidhara as soloist, it took place in The Playhouse Opera.
It has rapidly become a natural occurrence: symphony concerts conducted by women, often with a female soloist. The latter is much the older tradition, but it is being given a fresh glow with the fall of a stoutly-defended male bastion, the maestro’s podium. We can now assess women’s leadership in this field without the need for apologies, or with exaggerated (and inhuman) expectations. While this normalisation in the orchestral profession is long overdue, we shouldn’t underestimate the significance of the turn that has lately been taken.
Recent KZNPO programmes have included wafts of fresh air chiefly in unfamiliar overtures and similar shorter works. This time, it was Gustav Holst’s St Paul’s Suite for strings. Much influenced by the composer’s interest in British folksong and dance, the music was intended for performance by capable (female) high-schoolers. Since our professional body of strings could put a shine on its rich sonority, delicate phrases and rollicking rhythms, it proved a welcome introduction to another side of Holst (besides The Planets!) as well as to the feline approach of conductor Kalena Bovell.
Ms Bovell also channelled the orchestral part of the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in just the right way to allow Pallavi Mahidhara to project an utterly convincing account of the solo part. Saint-Saëns apparently suffered not a whit from ‘the anxiety of influence’: Into his compositional cocktail shaker went distillations from many great forerunners, and he sported them all proudly.
So the question lies in the manner of delivery. Mahidhara’s take was sincere and respectful, scintillating rather than showy, sensitive and elegant where necessary. Both here and in her encore (La Campanella, Liszt’s virtuoso rendition of a Paganini theme) her poised and unruffled delivery of some outrageously difficult music illustrated what we mean by ‘aplomb’. She has it in spadefuls. The playful, the oracular, the intimately melodic – all of it was a pleasure to see and hear.
Mendelssohn’s works have become a staple of the Philharmonic’s current repertoire. We were offered the relatively unfamiliar ‘Reformation Symphony’ (1830) and there are good reasons why it needs the serious engagement of its performers. It soon disappointed its composer who had harsh things to say about it in the 1830s. He wished it not to be published, and it was only twenty years after his death that it appeared in print. What are its issues?
The weighty solemnity of the occasion for which the symphony was conceived (300 years of the Lutheran Reformation) is apparent in the outer (1st and 4th) movements. These are considerably more developed than the dancelike second and the aria-like third movement, and base their claim to our attention on clarion brass passages, repeated Amens and German hymns, not to mention fugal passages, together yielding a spaciousness that the conductor recommended in her spoken remarks.
The final movement is in fact a deep dive into both Mendelssohn’s Protestantism and his adoration of J S Bach’s works – in this case, through variations on Martin Luther’s sturdy hymn Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. It is arguable that the more characteristic music is to be found in the springing second movement and the soulful third. At any rate, Ms Bovell wisely gave the orchestra its head, and asked us, the listeners, to do the appraising. – David Smith
October 31:
Conductor Marcelo
Lehniger, soloist Jeneba Kenneh-Mason (piano)
November 7:
Conductor Rebecca
Tong, soloist Soyoung Yoon (violin)
November 14:
Conductor Rory Macdonald,
soloist Olga Kern (piano)
To link direct to
the KZN Philharmonic’s website click on the orchestra’s banner advert on the
top of the page) - kznphil.org.za
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