KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra
World Symphony Series Winter Season 2025 Concert 2
The Playhouse Opera
Review by David Smith
This occasion has not been a straightforward one for me to review.
On the one hand: while the orchestra’s management has made every effort to ease concert access (the well-subscribed bussing scheme; parking discounts; lavish programmes freely distributed), their term ‘season’ has lost its meaning: two concerts a week apart are not a season, and what was the Early Spring Season is now similarly reduced.
Thus, the progressive shrinkage of these premier offerings seems to be an unavoidable fate. Long-time supporters are seen engaged in worried conversations in the foyer, while they remain thankful for what continues.
On the other hand: these two winter concerts have seen healthy attendances marked by a diversity of listeners that is, in my experience, uncommon on the classical orchestral scene here. The ‘new faces’ seem eager for the experience and are generous in their approbation of quality playing. And that has been in good supply. They have also glimpsed, in the KZN Youth Orchestra’s contribution to last Thursday’s performance, a highly active nursery of young players who are some of the seeds of our culture to come. Under Lyk Temmingh’s direction, they delivered resolute accounts of music by Rimsky-Korsakov, Karl Jenkins and Orff. Cathy Peacock must also be commended for her co-leadership in this long-running project.
Social media had already alerted us to the presence in South Africa of the formidable Andrey Baranov, the Russian violinist based in Switzerland. His account of Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, which is a combination of virtuoso writing and Spanish fantasy, was beautifully assured, its technicalities flying off the instrument, its low-string melodies warm and big-boned. In general, it reminded me of Arthur Grumiaux’s recordings, though Baranov’s lyrical playing had a silky tenderness and pliancy that made me long to hear more of it. Conrad von Alphen conducted the work with similar flair, and created of this unusually structured ‘concerto’ a high point in the evening.
It was his reading of Beethoven’s Pastorale Symphony that occupied the second half of the programme. For people with long acquaintance of the symphony, it is understandable that yet another rendition might threaten to be just that: a ritual reprise of an unmistakably ‘great work’. Von Alphen gave it a fresh presence without straining for romantic effects or indulging in eccentric speeds, allowing its simplicity (one of Beethoven’s hard-won achievements, given his natural bent for dramatic elaboration) to rise to the top, and encouraging its section soloists to play the game of ‘happy feelings’ (heiterer Empfindungen). It was a genuinely heartfelt response to the nobility and attraction of nature as embedded in the music.
By the same token, he unleashed a notably vehement ‘Thunderstorm’ in the fourth movement, so that, when it had past, the shepherd really had something to sing about.
No wonder that the audience could hardly contain its delight at this striking yet reposeful score, and the honest-to-goodness way in which it was executed. - David Smith
The Early Spring Season will take place on August 28 and September
4, 2025, in the Playhouse Opera at 19h00. Tickets available from Quicket.
For more information, click on the KZNPO advert at the top right hand of this page. This will take you to the orchestra's website.