CPO REVIEW: SYMPHONY CONCERT. Thursday, 16 August, 2018. City Hall Cape Town. CPO conducted by Bernhard Gueller, soloist Megan-Geoffrey Prins Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 3; Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No 1; Robert Schumann: Symphony No1 Spring.
MEGAN FURNISS reviews
It was miserable last night as I got stuck in Cape Town rain traffic on the way to fetch my date to go to the City Hall for some classical music. As I sat in my steaming up car and watched crazy drivers break the traffic laws in new ways, I questioned my sanity. Why was I even going out in this weather? Soup and bed seemed a better option.
When we got to the City Hall and parked, we went to go and look at what was happening around an open manhole. A huge, long pipe had been brought up and was being chopped into manageable bits by a guy wielding an axe. My date explained that the pipe was so old it was encased in lead. A massive white foreman sat in his expensive Range Rover ‘overseeing’ the manual labour. The scene, in streetlight and drizzle, was Dickensian.
The new City Hall
We hop-skipped our way along the pavement, dodging litter and puddles and joining fancy dressed up old folk on their way to the City Hall.
I love the City Hall, and every time I go there I despair at how little it is used by members of the city. I know that its legacy of the worst excesses of colonialism are obvious and will be forever displayed in the marble, the chandeliers, the huge wooden panelling. Yet, I always imagine how each room, hall, and space could be actively used now. But. I digress.
The main concert hall has been sexily revamped, with improved seating and sightlines, and a fresh lick of paint and polish. The pop-up bar and coffee station in the adjoining hall helps fill some of the space.
I was excited. It has been a while since I saw live classical music. (Disclaimer: I know as much about it as I do about wine; I know what I like when I taste it.) Still. A locally born pianist playing Rachmaninov sounded special.
We took our seats in the balcony with a complete and perfect view of everything. The little boxes on either side of us took me back through time, until the light of a cell phone screen caught my eye. The programme, part of The CPO’s Winter Symphony Season 2018, was at first a little Elgar, dedicated to David Tidboald (it said so in the programme), which was a tiny warm-up, then Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No 1. I was transported. This was a fantastic, rousing and soaring, melodic explosion and I loved the folky gypsy sound.
Then was Schumann’s Symphony No 1 Spring which, to my absolutely untrained ear was more central Europe in tone. Delicious and floaty.
Seriously extraordinary
After interval, with the grand piano moved into central place for Megan-Geoffrey Prins and Rachmaninov, it started. I was amazed and breathless. I didn’t know what to look for or listen out for, so I just let the experience take me. This young man is seriously extraordinary. I must have left the planet for a bit, because I came to when the entire audience rose to celebrate in rapturous standing ovation. I was glad that everyone thought it had been amazing too.
I was trying to find words for it as we left and spilled into real life outside. Here’s the thing (from an improviser’s point of view). Megan-Geoffrey Prins hands himself over to the music. There is no ego there. There is no diva performer making big noise and gesture. He is a man who is a conduit for the music. And it is transcendent.
Of course I need to mention the lovely conductor. Bernhard Gueller conducts this whole season. And, aside from being so present and connected (I clearly don’t know what the pre-requisites are), he has the most beautiful and expressive hands and wrists. So there is that too.
All in all, I had a charmed and delicious night at the symphony.
What: CPO Review: Megan-Geoffrey Prins and Rachmaninov
Read: Megan-Geoffrey Prins interview with WeekendSpecial
Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra: www.cpo.co.za
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