(Dr Devi Rajab, appealed
for support from private individuals who want to see this 42-year project
continue, and from bodies with the means to sponsor that continuation. Review
by David Smith)
KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra
World Symphony Summer Series, Concert 2 (February 27, 2025)
The Playhouse Opera
What’s this? A symphony season of just two concerts? A seasonette? Actually, as was clear from the introduction to the concert by Dr Devi Rajab, a long-serving member of the orchestra’s board, it’s a sign of the pressing financial constraints under which the KZNPO is operating. She appealed for support from private individuals who want to see this 42-year project continue, and from bodies with the means to sponsor that continuation.
To show willing, Rajab then joined other board members and Belinda Scott, a former MEC for Finance, as soloists in the opening Toy Symphony. Such works (for there are several), written for a small orchestra plus bird whistles, bell trees, ratchets, rattles and toy drums, etc., originated around the 18th-century toy industry in Berchtesgaden in Austria. They are undemanding and meant to be performed in a light-hearted manner. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a po-faced delivery devoid of any fun, and pointed to problems to come later in the programme.
The two main works were Mendelssohn’s fourth symphony (‘Italian’) and, topping that in length, Chopin’s first piano concerto. Chopin’s music, nearly all for piano, occupies a special niche – perhaps the reason why some people don’t overly enjoy it. Once one has acknowledged the criticism of his writing for the orchestra as functional but rather dry and uninspiring, and its lack of the dynamic give-and-take between soloist and orchestra characteristic of the genre, there are two factors to be weighed.
The soloist’s reading takes prime place in any performance. It was clear that Leo de María had all the technical resources required and more, yet the restraint of his opening gambit soon gave way to a feeling that he wasn’t inhabiting the score in an imaginative way. I had the pleasure of attending his solo recital the following evening, where his scorching technique was matched by towering interpretations of works by Granados and Liszt. Again, his little spot of Chopin (Impromptu No. 2) did not seem to be fully realised: he is not yet at home in the Chopin idiom.
The second factor is, of course, the way in which the ‘functional’ orchestration may still be shaped to engage with the soloist – to anticipate, support and echo his ideas, and to offer sensitive episodes between the solo statements. This barely happened at all: the tone was workaday and the key rhythmic ideas that Chopin allots to the orchestra lacked tautness and decision.
The ‘Italian’ Symphony, a set of colourful Mediterranean tone-pictures, found the conductor, Mark Kardin, on firmer ground. So, perhaps, were the players, since they managed to bring a degree of coherence to the execution. Yet this fine symphony doesn’t play itself, and the shaping of sonorities and the finished detail was hardly apparent. In fact, the conductor’s gestures were focused on only the most obvious features of the score, and little else.
The permanent ensemble, really a chamber orchestra now, soldiers on. On this showing they might benefit from performing some conductor-less programmes overseen by the concert-master and giving free rein to their soloists. Obviously, dynamic direction from the podium reaps great rewards, as the first of this pair of concerts amply demonstrated.
(See Barbara Trofimczyk’s review here: artSMart: KZNPO CONCERT #1: REVIEW
http://news.artsmart.co.za/2025/02/kznpo-concert-1-review.html)
The fact is that evening was the cheese, and this the rather unappetising chalk.
Symphony concerts by the KZNPO resume on June 12 for a three-week winter season. –
David Smith
To link to the KZNPO's website click on the orchestra's advert at the top right-hand side of this article.
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