ENDLER CONCERT SERIES Korngold Project 2
15 February 2015
Fismer Hall, Stellenbosch
Viva TwoPianists Records! The Korngold-projek is namely a local project initiated by this company. At the moment they are recording the second CD with works by the Austrian composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold with leading international musicians. Hopefully this is not the last of this composer.
In 2013 Korngold's Piano Trio, op. 1 and his Suite, op. 23 was completed as Part 1 of the project with the violists Daniel Rowland (from Britain and the Netherlands), Priya Mitchell (Brittain), the cellist Julian Arp (Germany) and the pianist Luis Magalhães (South Africa and Portugal).
Sunday afternoon Part 2 was recorded in the Fismer Hall. The first part of the program consisted of Korngold's Piano Quintet in E major, op.15, with violists Daniel Rowland and Francesco Sica, viola player Gareth Lubbe, cellist Julian Arp en pianist Luis Magalhães.
The musicians' surrender to the music was enthralling, their energy infectious and the way in which they were attuned and responsive to one another – in a work that at times maintained quite a fast tempo – was praiseworthy.
The second movement contrasts strongly with the first and is hair-raisingly beautiful. One had the feeling that Daniel Rowland, while performing, becomes one with his instrument – his violin an extension of his body. A poem by Afrikaans poet Leon Strydom, in his anthology Geleentheidsverse, involuntarily came to my mind. It is the poem "John Williams, De Doelen" in which he describes the sensual interaction between the guitarist and his instrument. A free translation of the four lines that came to mind: "god, he caresses him / and lulls him / he strokes the neck / the warmth of each spot".
The second part of the program followed on the first without a break – the recording had to be completed before load shedding started.
The String Sextet in D major, op.10, which Korngold composed at the age of 17 years, reflects pure joie de vivre and the energetic performance of the instrumentalists indeed did justice to the joyfulness of the piece.
It is a pity, however, that some people just do not listen to a simple request to switch off their cell phones during a performance or recording. The String Sextet had hardly begun when a cell phone abruptly butt in. Was it my imagination that the very same Rowland had trouble keeping his self-control? In the first few measures after the most unwelcome disruption I detected something like a fury in his performance. Completely justified. However, for this laywoman the performance as a whole was a tour de force.
