KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra - World Symphony
Series, Early Spring Season, Concert 2 (August 27, 2026) in the Playhouse Opera.
(Review by David Smith)
For the second concert in this pre-Spring season, Débora
Waldman made her Durban debut as conductor with a finely-varied programme. Both
the Dances of Galánta by Kodály and
Sibelius’s 5th Symphony represent orchestral writing of the interwar period
that skirted the fierceness of high modernism of Berlin and Vienna and drew on
regional inspirations.
Kodály’s work, a homage to the market-town and the Galantians of his childhood, builds on the fundamental slow/fast dance roots of broad Hungarian folk inspiration (it is now part of the Slovak Republic), but the composer’s canvas is intensely colourful, full of rhapsodic solos, broad dance-steps and rapid excitements.
The woodwind solos fell largely to principal clarinettist Eric Begley, but he was well-supported by flute and oboe. Waldman has a stick technique of great clarity, fully necessary for the ebb and flow of speeds, and for the quick alternations in texture. From the ornate introduction to the pulsing close, she gave the orchestra its head – but on a leash! It all seemed like the dream of a lost world ….
The symphonies of Sibelius take listeners progressively beyond the 19th century, and present unusual features. Here, for example, only woodwind and brass commence the work in layered waves, while the strings later produce clouds and ‘turbulence’; the usual themes are replaced by brief motivic ideas threaded together; and new keys arrive without warning. The whole work presents intricacies that test tutti-playing considerably, like the unexpected transformation of the expansive first section into the alertness of the second, and then the feverish gallop to a sudden stop.
So the orchestra is confronted with significant obstacles before the tension is alleviated in the variations of the second movement.
The wind section seemed unprepared at the outset – unstable tuning spoiled their exposed undulations – but they consolidated their vital energies with the further unfolding of ideas and began to lead the sound. The conducting was again aimed at responsive engagement, a guide through a tapestry that is far from familiar. The stately variations are based chiefly on the impetus of plucked strings, with the brass pealing slowly.
The last movement arrives suddenly, but the ensemble was ready for the whirling figures that set up the subsequent grandeur of a great chordal theme. But the nervously-vibrating patterns returned – misterioso - and the winds led the full orchestra into the spacious realm that crowns the work. It was given a radiant execution.
The first half saw violinist Lidia Baich join the orchestra for Bruch’s first violin concerto. A staple of the concerto repertoire, the work surely deserves its international standing as an exemplary expression of 1860s romanticism. It balances warm lyricism with display and rises above Bruch’s many other works for solo violin in its uniquely attractive themes. Baich presented an unaffected reading, marked by powerful chord-playing, a variety of lively bowing, and a penetrant sustained tone in passages on both low and high strings. The sense of collegial effort among the musicians was emphasised when, as her encore, she played the first movement of Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’ concerto with a group of strings. It was a fitting way of turning the seasonal corner and welcoming spring. - David Smith
NB:
The final concert in this season takes place on September 3.
For more information, click on the KZNPO advert at the top right-hand corner of
this article.
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