Review of SACM’s Winter Classics 2013 – Evening 2
As Coila Enderstein, one of the main organisers of the Winter Classics series of performances at the South African College of Music, announced at the beginning of the evening: Western Art Music’s audience is definitely lacking a younger audience when one scrutinises the attendance of classical performances. The aim of this series of four performances, performed every Tuesday from 18 June until 9 July 2013, is to create a lighter atmosphere that is indeed more accessible for a younger audience, unlike the often gut-wrenching, uptight and sterile atmosphere of competitions and certain other “formal” performances. A secondary aim of the performances is the encouragement of young performers to get involved in the actual performance, revealing what talent is often hidden in a forlorn practice room.
Arriving at the Chisholm Recital Room at SACM, I can see that Coila’s ideals are indeed being realised, with a substantial audience of young and old gathering outside the venue to casually sip some wine and the programme promising an array of young, relatively unknown performers. However, just because the target audience is younger and the ambience is more relaxed, it does not mean that the standards are dropped, as the beautifully balanced and surprisingly challenging line-up shows.
The line-up is varied in genre, tempi and mood, but I find it interesting that the evening seems to be string-focused, which provides a bit of a binding factor in what could have become a spurious display of random contrasts.
In the first half the audience is enticed with a series of violin performances from Beethoven, Brahms, Gherswin and, to my delight, Prokofiev. For a bit of contrast in timbre, Francois Botha performs Chopin’s third Ballade in A flat major, Op 47. The highlight of this half is the strong, accurate and mature performance of Anna van der Merwe on violin. With fantastic intonation and a relaxed and composed attitude she displays the competence and confidence needed to captivate the audience for a considerable length of time. The Allegro movement of the Sonata for two violins, Op 56 by Prokofiev is indeed challenging and often misunderstood by the audience. Here Van der Merwe and Sang Woo Jun rise to the challenge, and despite intonation problems here and there the performance is executed with gusto – the moments of brilliant communication between the two soloists rendering the performance truly entertaining, even if the sound is a bit World War II.
After the interval it becomes clear that the best has been left for last, with the performance of Haydn’s famous Sunrise string quartet (No 49, Op 76) really impressing me, and I can really close my notebook and just enjoy the show – which is, I often forget, precisely the point of attending a performance. As an ensemble, the four-piece consisting of Van der Merwe (violin 1), Sang Woo Jun (violin 2), Cara Coetzee (viola) and Eddie McLean (cello) makes a warm, focused and united sound. As the genre demands, there is good transparency, with a particular preciseness from the cellist, which helps to keep the sound defined and crisp. Van der Merwe once again impresses me, especially with her strong lead in the second movement. Despite a few note mistakes and a slight lack of sureness in the mid-voices, the challenging fourth movement draws to an explosive and strong close, which convinces me to attend next week’s performance.
Overall, the evening has been a success, with a lovely atmosphere and enjoyable wine, snacks and coffee.
The next show is on June 2, and it looks as if there will be a focus on woodwind performances, with works by Bartok, Katchaturian and Schumann, to name three. Tickets are a give-away at R30 pp and the show starts at 19:30. The initiative is as worthy of your support as the performances are entertaining. Tickets are available at the door.
For more information, contact Coila at coila.enderstein@gmail.com.
Teken in op LitNet se gratis weeklikse nuusbrief. | Sign up for LitNet's free weekly newsletter